


What Kinda Lame Fairytale Is This?

by LucyCrewe11 (Raphaela_Crowley)



Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Gen, Historical Inaccuracy, Humor, Just Pretend It Takes Place in the Early 2000s Or Something, Romance, Sibling Bonding, Sitcom, The Problem of Susan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28519677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raphaela_Crowley/pseuds/LucyCrewe11
Summary: Susan misses Caspian far more than she's willing to admit. So when he shows up on her doorstep one day she is ready to tell him how she really feels. There's just one little problem, he's engaged to someone else. And just what is Edmund up to?
Relationships: Caspian/Susan Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie & Eustace Scrubb, Edmund Pevensie & Lucy Pevensie & Peter Pevensie & Susan Pevensie
Comments: 8
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mysticlover](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysticlover/gifts).



> Written by little bitty teenage me in 2008; so don't expect Shakespeare going into this one, dearies.
> 
> This was actually my first multichapter fic ever and my first request. 
> 
> Ah, memories.

"Susan?" A voice called from downstairs.

Susan rubbed her tired eyes and rose from her bed. Ugh! why did they insist she get up early during the school holidays? It wasn't fair. She'd been having the dream again. The good one. Where she was married to Caspian and they had to kids, Caspian and Susan the seconds. Okay, so their kids' names weren't very well thought out. It didn't mean it wasn't a good dream. A dream that would never come true, sure it was. but it was still good.

"Susan!" Helen called from downstairs. "Will you stop dreaming about princes and get a move on?"

This was a little joke between mother and daughter. When Susan was five she had declared rather loudly in front of her family. "I'm going to marry a prince when I grow up!"

Hence her mother always joked that she was dreaming about her future prince. However that was incorrect. She wasn't dreaming about a prince from the future, rather it was one from the past. One she could never have.

"By the lion's mane, I'm getting a bit old for princes mother!" Susan called down to her mother.

"Okay dear, whatever you say. Come down for breakfast." Helen's voice called back up.

"Hey Su." Edmund walked right past her and into her room.

"Don't you knock?" Susan said crossly.

"Sure, sometimes, why not?" Edmund started rummaging though her clothes draws. "Do you have any sock that aren't pink?"

She glared at him and made a growling sound.

"What?" Edmund said as thought it wasn't rude of him to go through her stuff. Then he shrugged and went back to digging while Susan made huffy sounds.

Suddenly his hand stuck against a flower patterned book. Without hesitating, Edmund opened it. "Lions Alive! It's like an ode to Caspian!"

"That's mine." Susan tried to grab it out of his hand but he kept moving.

"If Caspian and I were together now we'd probably be laughing about how funny it was that we lived 1300 years apart." Edmund read out loud. He turned over to Susan. "Very deep stuff, Su."

Susan finally managed to pull the book out of Edmund's hands. "Hey I wasn't done." Edmund protested. "I didn't even get to the gushy parts."

Wishing her mother had decided to stop after two kids, Susan reached out, grabbed Edmund by the ear, and proceeded to pull him towards the door.

"Get out of my room!"

"Ow!" Edmund stood in the doorway rubbing his red ear. "But I need socks! Mine are all dirty!"

"Then wash them." Susan rolled her eyes.

"I can't. They're so bad that I had to get someone to dispose of them." Edmund explained.

"Ed, even you can't have that much foot odor." Susan reminded him. "It's impossible."

"Foot odor is only the half if it." Edmund said with a distant look on his face.

"Great!" Susan slammed the door in his face. How dare that brat look at her journal! No one was ever supposed to read that. It was supposed to replace all the loss she'd suffered from not having enough time to form real memories with her prince. It was meant for her eyes and her eyes alone. Now that someone else had looked at it, she no longer treasured the book. She hated it. It wasn't was it was meant to be. It was broken. She half wanted to burn it in the down stairs fireplace. Now that it was read it became as pointless as the trashy Romanic novels that lined the shelves in her friends bedrooms. Caspian was reduced to nothing but a muscled hero and Susan reduced to an air headed maiden in peril.

Sitting on her bed thinking about if the book was now good for anything but toilet paper, Susan glanced out the window and saw a very unhappy looking Lucy carrying a basket of brown objects that were shaped like socks. She was wearing a mask over her mouth and was trying to burry the socks in the back yard. The mask slipped and Lucy started to gasp choking on the fumes from the socks. Peter raced over and pulled her out of the smelly area then moments later returned dragging Edmund by the ear. (Poor Edmund that was the second time in one day!) Then he pointed to the socks and held his nose. Then Edmund said something to him and Peter slapped him upside the head.

Susan suppressed a smile she didn't even want to know what they were up to. She looked back at the book. Suddenly she didn't want to burn it. Trashy and silly though it was, it was all she had left of him. And she didn't want to give it up.

Meanwhile, in Narnia, Caspian was thinking about her too. He was engaged to be married to a beautiful girl. The daughter of a real star. So why couldn't he stop thinking about Susan? Susan was beautiful too but in a very different way from his star girl. Susan was dark haired and light-skinned. His star girl was every bit as light-skinned as Susan but she had hair lighter than winter wheat. He loved his star girl dearly but he wondered what it would've been like to be engaged to Susan instead.

Suddenly, Trumpkin ran in his room. "Hello my king." he called racing past him.

"What are you doing?" Caspian asked as the dwarf started looking around his room for something.

"Has your majesty and spare swords?" Trumkin wanted to know.

"Yes." Caspian told him. "Why?"

"I'm in a duel with another dwarf and my sword has broken." Trumpkin explained. "We agreed to a five minute break but I can't find a sword..."

"Say!" Trumpkin noticed a book lying on Caspian's nightstand. "I don't think I've read this one."

"No!" Caspian exclaimed. But it was too late, Trumpkin had already opened the book and was reading in disbelief. "You still have feelings for Queen Susan?"

"That's mine." Caspian said in a testy voice. "Please leave this room."

"But this isn't good." Trumpkin warned him. "My king, you are getting married very soon! you can't just have feelings like this for someone else. It's not...right."

"Trumpkin, please leave my bed chamber before I have my guards move you." Caspian said firmly.

"You promised to be a good king." he reminded him. "Promised Aslan you did!"

"I am a good king!" Caspian boomed. "I did everything right! I went on the stupid voyage to find the lost lords, I brought back a proper Queen, I came back as I promised. I've done everything you Narnians ever asked me to do!"

Trumpkin nodded and left the room. Caspian clearly needed sometime alone.

Caspian took a deep breath. He'd done everything right. So why wasn't he happy? Was he did he feel as though being king wasn't a great as it was cut out to be? Before he'd worried that he was not ready. Now his worry was that he was ready but simply didn't feel up to it anymore. At that moment, Caspian happened to look out the window and see his dear Star girl standing far too close to the tree Aslan and opened as a gate to that other world. The one Susan had gone through.

The Star Girl tripped over her long, blue gown and fell throw to the other side of the tree.

"No!" Exclaimed Caspian. He raced though the castle, passed Reepicheep and another mouse who were in a duel, passed three dryads in a spirited debate over some lame law, and out into the open. Then he ran through the tree himself. He had to save his star girl. But where was she? Where was he?

Caspian brushed himself off and looked round. He was in a strange sort of town. There were a whole lot of houses in a row. How was he ever going to find his star girl here? Well, he'd best try one of the houses. Better than just standing around doing nothing at all. But what house to try first? In the distance he thought he saw a little girl that looked quite a bit like the Queen Lucy enter one of the houses.

Maybe it's a sign from Aslan, Caspian thought. So he walked up to the door of that house and knocked.

Inside Helen had her hands full. Eustace (Who was visiting them from the holidays) and Edmund seemed to be taking random items outside with them. And she was trying to find out where on earth they were going with a jack-hammer. So she didn't have time to answer the door. "Susan, Can you get that?"

Susan sighed and opened the door. "Ye..." She stopped mid-word when she saw who it was. It was Caspian. What was he doing here. Was she dreaming this?

"Queen Susan?" Caspian gasped. She was the last person he'd expected to see.


	2. Chapter 2

"Caspian?" Susan asked in a dazed voice.

Caspian couldn't stop staring at her. She seemed so different...but the same. She was still the queen he remembered so vividly. But she was dressed so oddly. She seemed to be wearing some sort of baggy purple breeches and a short white tunic thing.

Why is he starting at me? Susan wondered. Then she remembered she was in her pajamas. Oh for the Lion's sake! She couldn't possibly be wearing pajamas on the day that was never supposed to come. The day she had secretly longed for.

"Yes, it's...me." Caspian said, A smile starting to take form on his face.

"I missed you." Susan blurted out.

Caspian's smile widened. And Susan started to smile too.

Just then, Eustace came over to the door. He'd managed to sneak away from Helen who was too busy giving Edmund a talking to about trying to sneak thermo-nuclear devices through the house. He'd come to tell Susan to close the door because there was a draft but he soon forgot about that when he saw Caspian.

"Caspian!" Eustace exclaimed happily.

"Eustace!" Caspian shook his friend's hand. "So good to see you again!"

Oh, so he's happy to see him but not me. Susan thought feeling rather annoyed. Well whatever. She simply had to race upstairs and change her clothes. Then she could deal with whatever was about to happen but she was not going to deal with it wearing slippers.

Edmund finally got away from Helen and went to look for Eustace. Then he saw Caspian. "Hey, what on earth are you doing here?"

"I don't know." Caspian confessed. He looked around. She was gone. He'd finally gotten to see her again and she was gone already. "Where's Queen Susan?"

"Probably upstairs." Edmund shrugged. He put his arm around Caspian and whispered, "Tell me, have you ever worked a steam roller before?"

"No?" Caspian didn't even know what a steam roller was.

"That's okay we can learn together." Edmund said. "Now you're older than eighteen right?" He pulled out a list out of his pocket. "Here's what you need to go to the store to buy."

"Edmund?" Helen's voice called from the kitchen. "You'd better not be trying to talk someone into buying power tools for you!"

"Of course not, Mum." Edmund called back. Then he stuffed the list into Caspian pocket. "Just in case you happen to come across any of the stuff on that list."

Up in her room, Susan didn't know what to put on. Caspian wasn't excepting "Susan the cool student who was lucky enough to have just returned from a trip to America." He was excepting "Queen Susan the Gentle (Who could also take out about five solders with one arrow if she felt like it)" Why didn't any of her clothes show that person?

"Because I'm an idiot, that's why." Susan muttered to herself bitterly. "If I had half a brain I would've brought that dress Lucy tried to talk me into buying two weeks ago and I'd have something that looked semi-Narnian to wear. But no, I had to be in fashion. I had to look like my cool friends...my friends are morons anyway, why did ever want to look like them?"

She went to her closet, tearing it apart bit by bit searching for something that didn't make her look like a shameless hussy. What was she thinking when she brought that black skirt in the corner? it barely covered her underwear label! She couldn't let Caspian see her in that! He'd probably think she was desperate. "Ugh." Susan dung deeper beginning to worry that by the time she found something, it would be something she'd last worn when she was twelve.

Meanwhile downstairs, Caspian was listening to Edmund explain how to blow up rocks. "And it makes this big booming sound...like bam!" Edmund told him excitedly. "Well it's more like, bang. Because bam is a little different."

"No you had it right the first time Edmund." Eustace insisted. "It's much more like bam than bang, the sound I mean."

"That's a really long answer to, "Can you tell me where I am?", King Edmund." Caspian willing himself not to scream.

He wanted to though. He wanted to stand on the coffee table and shout, "For the love of all that is holy, Edmund, shut up!" But he couldn't do that. After all, Edmund was king long before him and that meant he had to respect him at all times. But maybe it was okay to scream at Eustace...

Just them the door flew open and Peter walked it with Lucy and a lady in a blue dress.

"Are you really going to stay with us?" Lucy asked the lady excitedly.

"Until Caspian comes to find me, I don't suppose I have a choice." The lady sighed. "But I dare say you and I will have fun together."

Caspian looked over and saw his dear star girl save and sound with Lucy and Peter. He thought he might cry for sheer joy. He stood up and raced towards her.

"Caspian!" The star girl cried happily.

He threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "Thanks heavens you're safe! I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

At that moment Susan came down the stairs. She had managed to find an outfit that Helen had brought her a while back. It was so plain and uncool that Susan had shoved it into the back of the closet.

"Caspian, I..." She started, but stopped mid-sentence. Caspian was hugging a remarkably beautiful girl in a long blue dress.

I can't compete with her, Susan thought, she's far prettier than I. Oh what a lovely queen she will make him.

Forming tears felt hot behind her eyes but Susan wouldn't let them out. She held them in until she was blinded by them. She couldn't see Caspian or his beautiful maiden in blue. Only a blur of colors.

No one had heard her arrive on the stairs so Susan was able to tip-toe past everyone and into the kitchen where the phone was. Helen wasn't in there anymore, she'd gone out the pantry door to the garden to fit the mess Edmund had made with The Super Shovel 5000.

Tears started to escape from Susan's eyes as she dialed the numbers on the phone. "Jane?" She sobbed into the phone as soon as her friend picked up. "Can I stay at your house for a few days?"

Susan took a deep breath. "No, I'm fine, really, I just really need to get away. Someone I really can't deal with right now has come to visit and I could really use another place to be."

Susan listened as her friend asked her why she was crying. "It's nothing really. I just, can't be home right now."

Jane must have agreed to let her come because, she stopped crying and thanked her. Then she hung up the phone.

Now all she had to do was go back upstairs, pack, leave a note for mum, and she was as good as gone. Caspian didn't see her go back up the stairs and Susan had assumed no one had. But Peter noticed her crawling slowly up the steps and wiping stray tears away.

"Susan, you can't just run away from your problems." Peter said as she headed to leave her bedroom, suitcase in hand.

"Watch me." Susan told him bitterly.

"Su this is childish. You had a crush on the guy, you've moved on, he's moved on...it's over." Peter said.

"It wasn't a crush." Susan said trying to get around her brother. "Must you stand in the way?"

"Yes." Peter said obnoxiously.

"I really hate you right now." Susan told him.

Peter made a fake sad face. "That was me caring for one teeny second what you thought of me, but it's okay, I'm all better now."

"Jerk." Susan muttered under her breath. "You have no idea what I've been through."

"Oh please." Peter rolled his eyes. "Spare me. I've had more than enough of your whining ever since we left Nariño that last time. You don't care about your family anymore, you don't care about your grades in school, all you care about is dressing like...like..."

"Like what?" Susan demanded tearfully. She dropped the suitcase and threw herself on her bed sobbing. She hated to admit it but all he was saying about her was true. She was so far gone. She had no hope. Not with Caspian, not with her family, and not with Aslan.

Peter stopped. He hadn't meant. "I'm sorry Su." He said. "I shouldn't have said those things...I just want the old you back that's all."

"What was so great about the old me?" Susan grumped. "All she did was boss you around. Why do you like her so much?"

"Because she cared." Peter said simply. "Su, all I want is for you start caring about us again. We miss you. You've built this fort all around you that we can get through." Peter sat down on the bed beside her. He gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, Peter." Susan felt like a little girl as she put her head on her brother's shoulder and cried.

Peter sat there comforting her for as long as she seemed to need it. "Do you really think hiding from him is going to help?"

"I can't think of anything else to do." Susan said. "I can't be around him when he's around, that girl...who was she anyway?"

"The girl he's engaged to marry. He came here looking for her." Peter explained. "I'm sorry. I know it must hurt to hear that."

"I have to do this." Susan reached down and grabbed her suitcase. "I'm sorry. For everything. But I can't do anything about it. This is the way it has to be."

"Even after Caspian leaves?" Peter asked.

"What do you mean?" Susan didn't understand what he was getting at.

"I mean are you still going to be so...distant...with us?" Peter wondered aloud.

"I might have to be," She said simply.

"Why?" Peter asked. "Why can't we all just be friends again like we used to be?"

Susan's eyes darkened with anger. "Because you still care about Narnia and you know what? That place can vanish into thin air for all I care."

Peter shook his head. "So you're no longer a friend of Narnia?"

"No, I am not." She said as she walked out of the room. She wanted to feel the release of a great burden but she didn't. She felt alone, lost, and broken.

Downstairs, Edmund was busy showing the star girl his power tools.

"And what does this one do?" She asked looking at a strange hunk of metal.

"That one carves rock." Edmund said proudly.

"And this one?" She pointed to another one.

"It squirts water really really fast." Edmund said.

"Really?" She seemed very impressed by the tools.

Caspian felt bored. He didn't care about tools one bit. What was so jolly great about blowing stuff up anyway? Why did his star girl care? Maybe he didn't have as much in common with her as he'd thought.

Suddenly he happened to glance towards the door. Susan was slowly turning the knob, ready to leave.

I'm almost out, She thought, soon I'll be away from here. Then she felt someone grab her wrist. It was Caspian.

"Don't go." He said softly.


	3. Chapter 3

Susan felt a lump re-forming in her throat. This was too much to take. Don't go? How could he show up at her house engaged to another girl and not except her to go? Slowly she tilted her head back to look up at him. Their eyes where just about to meet when the door bell rang.

Saved by the bell. Susan whipped around and swung the door open. A rather fat delivery man eating a sub stood there.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"Yeah, I got a delivery here for a Mr. Edmund?" The man squinted down at his clip board. "Sign here for the extra large pack of tube socks."

Susan scribbled her name on the paper and tried to get around the big man and out the door before Caspian tried to stop her again.

"You're in my way." She snapped at the man.

"I can't leave until the socks are given to Mr. Edmund."

"Edmund, come here!" Susan shouted. When he arrived, walking as slowly as humanly possible, she thrust the large pack of socks into his arms.

The star girl came to the door following Edmund. Then she looked at the package in his arms. "What is that?"

"Socks." Edmund said proudly. "New ones."

The delivery man smiled at the Star Girl. "Here have a free hat." He handed her a baseball cap that said, "Save the Beavers".

"Thanks." The star girl said, putting the hat on her head. Then she turned to Caspian. "How's it look?"

"Beautiful." He smiled at her.

"I don't think he's looking at the hat." Eustace remarked at he came over to see why the door was open again. That dreadful draft!

The star girl blushed. Susan shook her head and started out the door again.

She took a false step and fell into a deep hole that she could swear was not on her front lawn before today.

"Ow!" And what was that awful smell? It made her want to vomit. Her hand reached out for a handful of dirt and pulled up an item that looked suspiciously like a sock. Some of the mud that was caked on fell off revealing the letters E.P.

"Edmund!" Susan shouted from the bottom of the hole. I'm going to kill that kid! She thought bitterly.

A long arm and hand reached down the hole. The fingers wiggled as if to offer help. Susan grabbed it feeling very thankful. She'd taken for granted that it must be Peter or her father. But when the strong arms pulled her out she discovered she was wrong. It was Caspian.

"Be careful." He said kindly.

She didn't answer. Now she stood in front of her prince covered in mud and dirt and reeking of foot odor. Wait until she got a hold of Edmund, he was going to be in big trouble.

Suddenly she noticed that her ankle really really hurt. She could just barely stand on it. Oh no. Her ankle couldn't be...broken? Susan quickly looked down and found that was swollen to double it's normal size.

Caspian looked down at her ankle. "I think it's broken."

"Oh I would've never guessed!" Susan snapped.

He didn't respond. She'd hurt his feelings. Feeling rotten, Susan allowed him help her back into the house.

"What's that smell?" The star girl asked, holding her nose.

"Susan." Eustace answered.

The star girl blushed. She was very polite by nature and would never have purposely insulted someone. "Sorry." She muttered, her face getting redder by the second.

Susan had never been more embarrassed in her life. She wanted to shout, "I don't stink by nature, it's all Edmund's fault! And Excuse me if I'm not always looking like a china doll unlike some people!" at the top of her lungs. But the words wouldn't come out.

"Sweet Aslan! What's happened to her?" Peter asked as he watched Susan limp to the couch.

"She fell down a hole." Caspian explained.

"Hole?" Peter repeated dumbly. They all turned and glared at Edmund.

"What?" He touched his nose. Why was everyone looking at him for? "Have I got a bogey or something?"

Peter went out of the room and returned with an ice pack. Gently he put it on Susan's ankle.

"Ow." She whimpered as the sudden cold made her foot sting.

"Sorry." Peter said kindly. "It'll be okay. But I don't think you can go off to Jane's house like this."

"Nonsense." Susan snorted. She stood up. "Ahh!" She couldn't stand up at all with out pain. She started to fall backwards. Edmund caught her in his arms.

The phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Edmund said, dropping his sister on the ground and racing for the kitchen.

"Ow." Susan moaned as laid sprawled out on the floor.

Peter and Caspian helped her back onto the couch.

Edmund walked back into the room. "Mum and dad are spending the night at a friend's house."

"I guess that mean's Caspian and his girlfriend can have your parents room for tonight." Eustace said.

Susan glared at her Cousin. They weren't even married yet. Them sharing a room would be wrong on so many levels.

"Caspian can stay in the guest room with you Eustace." Peter corrected sternly.

The star girl breathed a sigh of relief. If her father ever found out that she shared a room with him before the wedding he'd throw a fit.

Sensing the star girl's relief Susan felt a bit kinder towards her. So she was like everyone else after all. She got nervous sometimes.

The door flew open and Lucy walked in with a bundle of clothes in her arms.

"Edmund's dry cleaning?" Eustace asked.

"Oh!" Lucy gasped." I forgot. No, this is clothes for Caspian and his...Well, it's for them to wear. It was in a give away bin."

The star girl looked curiously at the bundle. She rather liked getting new clothes.

Peter glared at Edmund. "You make her pick up your dry cleaning?"

Edmund did a phony-innocent face and smiled up at his brother. "I love you, brother."

"Good." Peter said dryly. "Then I'm sure you'll love doing my laundry for the next two weeks."

"That's not fair!" He protested.

"I'm dying over here." Susan moaned her fingers tightly around her ankle. "Do I need a doctor?"

Peter shook his head. "You'll be fine, Su. Just try to relax."

Relax? How could she relax with Caspian and that girl around the house? She was supposed to be at Jane's! This wasn't right. It wasn't fair!

It took Peter forever to get to sleep that night because Edmund (who shared the room with him) kept talking in his sleep. And whenever he stopped for a breath all that came out was a remarkably loud snore. Finally he managed to drift off when he heard a timid little voice above him.

"High King?" The voice whispered.

"Mmm." Peter mumbled and rolled over with out opening his eyes.

"High King Peter?"

"Go away." He moaned in his sleep.

"But.." the voice pleaded meekly.

His eyes opened and he saw the star girl standing there. What was she doing here? "Sorry, What did you want?"

"There's no chamber pot in my room." The star girl blushed feeling rather that it was very unlady-like of her to talk to the high king about Chamber pots and she would rather not have if she didn't have to go so badly.

Still asleep, Edmund made chewing noise and muttered something about bananas.

"Come on." Peter stood up and wiped the sleepys out of his eyes. "I'll show you to the loo."

"With all due respect," The star girl said calmly. "I do not think we should go meeting your friends at this late hour."

Peter let out a tired chuckle. "The loo is not a person. It's a toilet."

The star girl's white-blond brow crinkled with confusion. and she blinked twice. "Toilet?"

Peter took a deep breath. The poor girl, it wasn't her fault she didn't know. "It's a fancy word for big porcelain chamber pot. Only you don't have to dump it out, it flushes away."

"Really?" The star girl asked her eyes widening. "It's a strange world you live in, high king."

"You have no idea." Peter agreed with a smile. "Come on, this way."

Meanwhile, Caspian was having trouble sleeping too. He tossed and turned struggling to get comfortable. But even when he was quite comfortable, he found he wasn't sleepy. He felt more awake than ever. He rose from the bed and headed down the hall. He didn't know where he was going until he heard a familiar steady breathing. The door to her room was open a crack already. It wasn't wide enough to enter though, so he had to open it a little more. It made a quite sort a creak but it didn't awaken her.

Susan slept on her bed. She'd actually cried herself to sleep. Only half because of ankle pain.

She looked so beautiful. Just like the story from this world Caspian had heard before. The one in which a princess was bewitched in a sleep and the enchantment could not be broken until the prince kissed her. If the thought of his dear star girl had not been there in the back of his mind, he might have kissed Susan just then. But he couldn't bring himself to. However he did sit beside her watching her sleep. Her eyes weren't moving under their lids, that meant she wasn't having any dreams.

Caspian leaned forward and stroked her cheek with his hand. The traces of a smile formed at the corners of her mouth reviling a slight hint of dimples.

The lou was right next to Susan's room. (All the more chance for her to hog it). Peter opened the door and the star girl raced in. "Thank you, your majesty."

Good, now that was taken care of and he could go back to bed. Then Peter realized that Susan's door was open far wider than it normally was. He crept towards the room slowly unsure of what to expect. Then he saw Caspian sitting on the bed gazing down at her.

"Caspian!" Peter hissed signaling, for him to follow him.

Caspian stole out of the room softly so as not to wake Susan, closing the door behind him. Peter looked livid. His eye color was a shade darker than it was normally and his brows were at least three inches lower than seemed humanly possible.

"What do you think you are doing?" He demanded furiously.

"I-I-I couldn't sleep." Caspian said lamely.

Peter shook his head. "Look, I don't want you bothering her anymore okay?"

"That's not for you to decide." Caspian told him.

Peter bared his teeth and took a threatening step towards him. "Last time she got attached to you, she fell apart. I watched her day after day putting on more and more make-up. I heard her cry herself to sleep when she didn't know I was around. I saw her pain. I watched her become someone I didn't even know anymore."

"And you think it's my fault?" Caspian asked in disbelief.

"I know it's your fault." Peter whisper-shouted. "Do you think she would've taken leaving Narnia so hard if it wasn't for you?"

"That isn't fair." Caspian protested. "I didn't do anything."

"And your not going to, because if you hurt her, I will break every bone in your body, got that?" Peter looked him straight in the eye and then headed back to his room.

Edmund (who had woken up and was listening to this at the door) whispered, "Gosh Pete, don't you think that was a bit harsh?"

Peter didn't answer.

"It wasn't really his fault." Edmund said. "He was a good king and Susan made her own choice."

"Whatever Ed." Peter groaned as he got back in bed.

"By the way, you can't break every bone in his body because I need him to help me carry a ladder tomorrow." Edmund said only half-joking.

The next morning's breakfast was an odd one. Peter and Caspian weren't talking, Susan wouldn't look at anyone, and Eustace who had had a very bad nights sleep do to a re-occurring nightmare where he arrived at school in his underpants only grunted when someone asked him to pass the butter. Lucy, Edmund, and the Star girl were cheerful enough at first. Then realizing the others weren't talking, Edmund starting ignoring everyone in favor of drawing what looked like a detailed guide to building columns on his napkin.

The star girl and Lucy chatted to fill the quiet void.

"So what are you doing today, Queen Lucy?"

Lucy shrugged. "I don't have any plans yet, you?"

"No." The star girl sighed. "I do hope we get to go back to Narnia soon. I'm a bit home sick."

Lucy reached out and touched her hand. "I know just how you feel."

Susan glared at her sister. Although she knew she'd been pushing Lucy away lately, she felt betrayed that Lucy was bonding with Caspian's soon to be queen. It seemed like everyone was replacing her. If only it wasn't for that darn ankle, then she could get up and run and run and run never stopping until she was far away from it all. Away from Caspian. Away from her siblings. And away from that nagging bit of faith that wouldn't leave her alone.


	4. Chapter 4

Peter was surprised out how quiet everything was. No sounds of Edmund's shovel, no click-clacking of Caspian's boots, not even the sound of Susan's moans.

Edmund, Eustace, and Caspian had gone to the hardware store an hour ago to buy goodness knows what, taking Lucy with them somewhat against her (And Peter's) will. Their parents had called to say that there invited to stay with their friends a little longer and they hoped their children would be responsible enough to stay a couple more days by themselves. Which Peter assured them of as Edmund came walking by carrying a table saw. Susan claimed she had a headache and had to stay up in her room with the door locked all afternoon.

The only one who wasn't doing anything was the star girl. She was sitting on the couch looking rather glum.

She must be missing Narnia. Peter thought to himself. That was understandable, after all he missed it too. Sometimes he missed it so much it hurt just thinking about it. Then he'd remember the look on Aslan's face when he'd told him and his sister they would not be returning. It was the look someone had on their face when a story was beginning not when it was coming to an end. Peter kept telling himself that whenever he was tempted to become like Susan and fall apart, he'd force himself to be strong.

"Home sick?" Peter asked the star girl kindly.

She nodded. "Yes, but that's not what I was thinking about just now."

"What were you thinking about?"

She smiled a little. "You'd think it's silly."

"I wouldn't." Peter assured her.

She took a deep breath and lowered her voice. "Alright, if you must know, I'm a little bit worried about not knowing how to dance at my own wedding." She looked very embarrassed.

"You can't dance?" Peter held back a laugh.

"Shh!" The star girl looked around quickly to be sure no one was listening. "Not even Caspian knows that and I tell him almost everything. And I just don't want to look stupid in front of all my future subjects." She shook her head. "Can you imagine? They'd all think their new queen had three feet!"

Suddenly he had an idea. "I could teach you." He offered.

"Really?" Her whole face lit up.

Peter chuckled a bit. "If you don't mind the fact that the dance steps will be over 1300 years old that is."

"No I wouldn't mind." The star girl said eagerly. "Then if anyone said anything I'd be able to tell them I'd taken lessons from the High King from the golden age of Narnia. No one could make fun of me for that!"

Peter walked over to the radio. "Okay then." He said as he turned it on. He tuned it until he found suitable music. "It would work better with real Narnian music but we must make do with what we have."

"Okay." The star girl stood up and looked at the radio as though her eyes were glued to it.

"First things first." Peter instructed. "You must go with the beat. Watch me." Peter showed her a dance move. "It's really easy, step, step, right, left, turn. Now you try."

"Step, step, turn." She did the move rather well.

"Good, you catch on fast." Peter nodded approvingly.

After he'd shown her a few more moves she pointed out a problem. "But at the wedding I'll be dancing with a partner. How I do that?"

"I guess it's time to move on to lesson two." Peter announced. "Dancing with a partner."

The star girl clapped her hands. "Oh good!"

"First thing I have to make clear is, the man always leads."

The star girl nodded. "Man always leads, got it." She repeated.

"I mean it, no guy wants to be pushed around the dance floor." Peter insisted. He shuddered remembering the time a rather large-boned visiting princess had asked him to dance at a ball. She'd done all the leading. There was a dip involved and the princess wasn't the one who got her head banged on the floor. Also there was one part in the horrible dance where she spun him around so fast that he went crashing into the dessert table! Edmund had made fun of him by calling him, "Ballet boy." for three weeks straight after that one. As for the princess, she was dragged out shouting. "Why do I have to leave? I thought we were getting along just fine!"

He took a step towards the star girl and put his arm under hers. "Now all you have to do is just follow my lead. My foot moves this way, your foot moves this way, got it?" He said. "Oh, and we have to stand a bit closer together. About six fauns could fit between us now."

"Oh." Her cheeks went very red and she took a few steps closer.

"Great now only four fauns could fit between us." Peter joked.

She let out an awkward giggle and then came closer. A half hour later The Star girl was improving.

"Gosh, you'll be better than me soon." Peter commented.

She laughed nervously. "You don't mean that."

"Sure I do."

"Okay, lesson three." Peter said. "Spins."

"I think it only fair to warn you that I once injured my cousin while trying to lean to spin." She confessed.

"Me too!" Peter told her.

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, poor Eustace got knocked out cold." He was trying not to smile."

"You're teasing me." The star girl laughed.

"Maybe a little." he admitted.

And hour later, They were done with their dancing lesson and Peter was teaching her how to play cards.

"How come an A beats a king?" She asked looking down at her king card witch Peter was now holding in his hand.

"I don't know, that's just how it goes."

"Oh, alright then." The she noticed he was leaning over to get a peek at her cards. "Hey, stop cheating!"

"See how fast you catch on?" he told her proudly.

Suddenly a loud thud echoed through the house. "By Aslan's mane, what's was that?"

"I think it came from outside." The star girl offered.

The back door flew open and Edmund and Lucy walked in covered head to toe in dirt, mud, and gravel. Lucy was coughing up chunks of earth.

"Oh toughen up Lucy," Edmund told her. "So you swallowed a few dozen pounds of soil. Not worth getting wound up over."

Lucy let out a little whimper.

"Okay, okay." Edmund said gently. "Let's just get you up stairs before Peter sees you like this..."

Peter was standing right in front of them now and he did not look amused.

"Hey Pete, how goes it?" Edmund took a step in front of Lucy as though that would somehow hid her appearance from Peter

"Two more weeks of doing my laundry, Ed." Peter told him. "Oh and that includes ironing my socks."

Edmund looked a bit guilty, "Yeah about that...I think your socks um might not be usable anymore."

"Ed!" What was with him and socks?

"I had to loan them to Eustace and he kinda sorta lost them as well as one of your leather boots in a sink hole..." Edmund couldn't look his brother in the eye.

"Six weeks." Peter told him as he walked off.

Early that evening, The star girl and Lucy ran around the back yard trying to catch fireflies.

"I got one!" Lucy cheered as the Star Girl opened the jar for her.

"Oh, it's a nice one, Queen Lucy!" The star girl exclaimed as she saw the bright little thing flying about the jar.

"It's the biggest one I've ever caught." Lucy said.

Peter was watching them with a smile on his face. It was nice that Lucy had someone to catch fireflies with again. She used to do it with Susan but she'd long ago declared herself, "Too old for such nonsense" Despite Lucy's pleadings of, "Just one last time Su? Please?"

Edmund and Eustace walked by wearing hard hats with torches on them.

"That's a big one, Lucy." Eustace nodded approvingly at his cousin's fire flies.

"Thanks, but I couldn't have gotten it in the jar with out help." She smiled at the star girl.

The star girl smiled back. She'd always wanted a little sister.

Meanwhile, Susan sat on the couch with a scowl on her face. Her ankle was propped up against pillows and it was still swollen. Everyone seemed to have forgotten her about her. No one sat with her or talked to her or offered to get anything for her. What she really wanted at that moment was someone to come by and turn off the radio. The speakers voice sounded scratchy and it was driving her crazy. Then she heard the clank of boots against the floor behind her.

It must be Edmund, She thought. His boots are louder than Peter's.

"Ed," She asked with her eyes closed. "Be a dear and turn off the radio?"

"I'm not Edmund." Caspian's voice said.

Her eyes opened. "Why aren't you in the back yard with your future wife?"

"I was taking a nap when she and Lucy went out back." Caspian explained.

"Oh." There didn't seem much else to say.

"Susan, there's something I wanted to tell you before but didn't get around to..."

"What?" She didn't know where he was going with this. What could he possibly have to say?

"I really missed you..." He said. "...When you...left..."

"I missed you too." She said softly. "But that doesn't change much." But it still meant a lot to her. He'd missed he after all. He hadn't forgotten about her right off the bat like she'd assumed. Or was he just saying that to make her feel better?

"I meant what I said before about wishing we had more time together." Caspian said. "And I know what you said about, it never working out but sometimes I wonder if maybe...it would have...worked out I mean."

Susan took a deep breath. "I guess we'll never know."

"I guess we wont." Caspian took a seat next to her on the couch. "But I still think we could be friends."

"I don't know...it's...weird." Susan mumbled.

"Understatement of the year." Caspian muttered.

For a moment neither one said a word. Then with out thinking, Caspian leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed him back.

"Okay so we need more sandwiches." Edmund told Eustace as they walked through the back door into the kitchen. Eustace peered into the living room and let out a gasp. "Uh, Edmund?"

"Yeah?" Edmund said as he took the bread down from the shelf.

"Caspian and your sister are making out." Eustace told him

"Ha ha." Edmund laughed. "Very funny."

"I'm not kidding." Eustace whispered.

"Get out!" Edmund raced over to the door, nudged Eustace out of the way, and saw them for himself.

"Ew, that's so gross." Eustace said as he watched them. "It looks like he's eating her face. Older people are weird!"

"It's not so bad." Edmund told him turning a bit red.

"How would you know anything about it?" Eustace asked.

"I was a grown up king in Narnia." Edmund reminded him.

"You kissed a girl?" Eustace asked.

"More than one." Edmund told him. "but let's not talk about it now."

Eustace stared at them. "It's like watching a nature programme where the mother bird feeds the baby birds orally!"

"It's starting to creep me out," Edmund said.

Eustace was more than willing to leave but felt that like they were forgetting something. "But what should we do?"

"Um, turn off the lights on them?" Edmund suggested.

"Good idea!" Eustace got down on his hands and knees followed by Edmund and they headed for the light switch on the other side of the living room. Edmund reached it first and shut it off. The room was almost completely dark now.

"Quick!" Eustace whispered. "Let's run before they see us!"

Edmund silently raced after him and hid behind the kitchen door.

Susan let out a gasp.

"What happened?" Caspian asked.

"Maybe it was a power out." Susan said practically.

Then they remembered what they'd just been doing. They were embarrassed beyond words.

"I'm sorry Susan." Caspian told her. "I wasn't thinking." But he was thinking now. he was thinking about how hurt his star girl would be and how angry Peter would be. Maybe he should've taken his advice and left her alone.

"It's okay." Susan told him feeling more than a little stupid. She stood up and limped back up the stairs.

Eustace and Edmund shrugged and headed back out the door.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to eat again." Eustace said grimly.

Peter overhead them. "Showed Eustace that thing growing in your hamper, did you, Ed?" He joked.

"Naw, we just saw Caspian and Susan ma..." Eustace started.

Edmund elbowed him and gave him a quick, "Shut up now" look.

"...king Jell-O." Eustace finished lamely. "They can't cook."

"Really?" Peter said trying to remain calm. "And what house did you just come from? Because the house I remember leaving didn't have any Jell-O mix."

"That's why it was so gross?" Eustace tried.

"I see." He turned to Edmund. "The real story?"

"Okay." Edmund sighed. "They were kissing in the living room."

"Don't remind me." Eustace told him. "It's going to take me months to get that image out of my brain."

"They what?" Peter hissed. He was getting more angry by the minute.

"Do we really have to repeat it?" Eustace asked.

"Look, it's okay." Edmund told him. "I took care of it."

"How?" Peter asked, in a surprised voice.

"I turned the lights off." Edmund said proudly.

"You turned the lights off?" Peter repeated grinding his teeth.

"Well, it's not like it was Rabadash." Edmund pointed out. "I would've killed him."

Thankfully, Lucy and The star girl were out of ear shot so they couldn't hear the not-so-nice words Peter said next.

"Does your mother know you talk like that?" Eustace asked. "Alberta doesn't like those words...she says it makes her sad when I say it."

"Mum put soap in my mouth last time I used those words." Edmund recalled.

Peter ignored them and walked into the house.

Edmund glared at Eustace. "Jell-O?"

"It was the first thing that came to my mind!" Eustace defended himself. Then, "What do you thinks about to happen?"

Edmund gulped remembering what he'd heard Peter tell Caspian the night before. "Whatever it is...it's not gonna be pretty."

"Should we warn Caspian?" Eustace asked.

"We don't have time." Edmund said. "I think we should go hide somewhere safe and take Lucy with us."

"Bomb shelter?" Eustace suggested.

Suddenly, Lucy felt someone grab her wrist and pull. It was Edmund. "Come on Lu."

"Ed, I don't want to dig anymore." She said. "I still have dirt in my stomach."

"Don't worry it's not that...it's just the high king is about to go off and I think we'd all be safer in the bomb shelter."

"But Peter never loses his cool." Lucy said.

Then they heard Peter shouting at someone from inside the house. "Don't you listen to a word I say?" he screamed

"Okay, let's hide!" Lucy ran after Edmund into the bomb shelter.


	5. Chapter 5

Caspian and Peter stood in the hallway. Neither looked happy.

"What did I tell you?" Peter demanded loudly.

"Please stop shouting." Caspian held his head. "I've got a headache. And haven't the slightest idea what you're shouting about, high king."

Peter glared at him. "Oh I think you do!" He took a step towards him.

Caspian took a step back. How could he have found out?

"Funny thing..." Peter said in a voice that didn't sound like he thought anything was funny at the moment. "Two sock thieves with hard hats happened to see you in the living room...care to tell me what they saw?"

Oh no! As if it wasn't bad enough already, Peter had to find out. How could Eustace and Edmund betray him like that? After all their adventures on at sea...they ratted him out! How could they? "Look, it was a mistake..."

"No, a mistake is letting Edmund plan a ball when a very uptight king is coming to visit, a mistake is putting salt in cake when you meant to put sugar...what you did was not a mistake!" Peter shouted at him.

Susan limped out of her room. "What's the row about?"

Peter turned on her. "And you!"

"Me what?" Susan said.

"Are you out of your mind? He's engaged!"

"Oh no." Susan gulped. "how did you find out?"

"Let's just say I could see through the jell-o."

"Huh?" Caspian and Susan said at the same time. Jell-o? What jell-o?

"Long story." Peter waved it off. "But that's not the point."

As they argued and fought, they didn't notice a very sad looking star girl who'd tip-toed in to look for Lucy (She didn't know she was in the bomb shelter) standing in the hallway blinking back tears. Caspian didn't want her, he wanted Queen Susan. But what was wrong with her? Wasn't she quiet and meek enough to suit any king? Wasn't she one of the most beautiful daughters of the stars? Wasn't she good enough? But then, she was no golden age queen who was known and admired across all Narnia. She was just some lady picked up from a voyage. It didn't seem fair.

"Look!" Peter said finally, ignoring Caspian and looking at Susan. "I've had enough. If you want to fall apart again...be my guest. Just don't expect me to watch." Then he turned to Caspian. "And be assured the only reason I'm not going to tear you limb from limb is because those Narnians still need you and for the sake of your future wife." Then he stormed out of the hallway.

Then Caspian noticed a small blue eye peering at them from the corner. He gulped. Poor star girl. "I-I-I...I'm sorry."

"Just forget it." She said in a soft, dull voice as she walked away.

Susan limped back into her room without a word to anyone. She felt as though there were rocks in the base of her stomach. So much had happened so fast. She'd messed up again. And this time, no one was going to even try to help her. Her little sister had found a new buddy, her elder brother had at last given up on her, her younger brother...well she still wasn't sure what was wrong with him...but at least everyone was finally leaving her alone the way she always wanted them to. But as she sat in the darkness of her room with only a the shadowy light of the half-moon from out side for company, she began to wonder if that was really what she wanted after all.

Meanwhile, Eustace. Edmund and Lucy were sitting in the bomb shelter playing Go Fish.

"Queens?" Edmund asked Eustace.

"Go Fish."

"Okay this is boring!" Edmund declared. "I wanna blow something up."

"But..." Lucy protested.

"I've got an idea!" Eustace said cheerfully.

Edmund looked at him with an expression of eagerness.

"Let's tunnel out of here with one of the emergency shovels!"

"Oh! Good idea!" Edmund grabbed a shovel and started digging.

"Why can't we just go out the way we came in?" Lucy asked in a pleading voice. She knew they were going to make her dig too.

Edmund rolled his eyes. "Because Lucy, We're going to tunnel all the way to the cave in the back of the woods that's behind our yard."

"Why?" her eyes narrowed. "Did you break the ears off of mum's rabbit statue again?"

"I told you!" Edmund said in an annoyed voice. "Peter broke it, put it in my hands, and ran out the back door!"

Lucy let out a little chuckle. That Edmund! Going back to being a kid was hard for them all...but Edmund seemed to adjust to it a little too well.

Back in the house, Peter sad on his bed studying a school book. Trying to keep his mind off of everything. Off of his crazy brother's plans, off of his idiot sister, off of his other sister who was forced into child labor by said crazy brother. But it was no use. Everything was a mess. Maybe an earlier bed time would help. He thought he heard mice crawling on the floor boards. Oh well, he didn't care, let them run wild. He was out of energy.

It wasn't actually mice. Edmund, Eustace, and Lucy had tunneled under the house by mistake. Suddenly Edmund's shovel stuck something hard. What was that? It seemed to be a piece of wood. He pushed the wood up with all his might and then saw himself looking around at a very messy room. Messy, on one side that is, one the other side it looked neat as can be. It was dark so he couldn't be sure but it seemed like something was sighing and groaning.

"Whoever lives on that side of this room that is should be ashamed!" Edmund whisper-shouted looking the mess.

"Ed!" Lucy slapped her forehead. How could he not know where he was? "It's your room!"

"Oh." Edmund blushed a little. "I see...okay, we've taken a wrong turn...back to the bomb shelter. He started to close the floorboard above them when Lucy shoved her way around him and started calling loudly for Peter.

"Lucy, don't!" Eustace started.

It was too late. Peter had already gotten off the bed and dragged Lucy to safety. "Edmund!" He shouted.

"Bye!" They disappeared under the boards.

"Are you okay Lu?" Peter asked as he looked at his poor little sister who was covered in soil from head to toe.

"I'll be fine." Lucy said. "How's Su?"

"A wreak." Peter mutter. "But I don't care anymore."

Lucy's face dropped. "Oh, but you have to care about her...she's our sister!"

"I don't." Peter insisted stubbornly. "She's a spoiled, bigheaded, no good, brat."

"Oh you don't mean that!" Lucy exclaimed.

"I'm sorry Lucy." Peter told her. "But she's gotten beyond us."

Lucy started to cry causing the dirt to turn to mud and drip down her face like poorly applied, wash-off, theater make-up. "I thought you cared about all of us. I thought all four of us were going to be close for ever."

"I do care about you Lu." Peter said. "Nothing going to change between us."

"But what about Su?" Lucy demanded tearfully. "She's going through a hard time and you should care! This isn't you. The high king I know will always care about his family. All of them!" She stamped her foot (Smashing a helpless beetle that had gotten stuck in her shoe.) and stormed out of the room.

Peter felt worse that ever. Lucy was right. But he couldn't stand Susan at the moment. He thought he maybe even hated her. Why did she fall to pieces and not allow herself to be put back together. He walked over to the lou. the door wasn't open but whoever was in there had forgotten to lock behind them. Susan was sitting on the floor in that room sobbing quietly into a tissue. She gasped when she saw Peter standing there.

"Don't you knock?" she demanded. She hated it when any of her siblings saw her crying. She didn't want them to see the weak Susan they seemed to be assured that she was. She wanted to prove them wrong. She wanted to show that being strong didn't mean believing in Narnia. But she never could manage to do that or even really make herself believe that.

He closed the door behind her with out saying a word. She was a mess. She needed him. And he didn't hate her. He only hated what she'd become.

Peter couldn't sleep. Edmund was actually holding a small shovel and shoveling the covers on the bed in his sleep! Peter groaned, grabbed a blanket and went outside to the back yard. He spread it out and sat on it looking up at the stars. They weren't as familiar as the Narnian ones but they were nice in their own little way.

"Room for one more?" A soft little voice asked.

Peter looked up. The star girl was standing there. "Sure."

She took a seat next to him and looked up at the stars.

"Related to any of them?" Peter asked.

She shook her head. "No, all strangers."

"I see." Peter said not knowing what else to say.

"Why doesn't Caspian like me anymore?" The star girl asked, then she turned away as if scared by her own blunt question.

"He likes you." Peter told her. "You guys are getting married, remember?"

"He likes your sister better." she said bitterly.

He felt surprised. The star girl had always been so quiet that he'd assumed she didn't know how to be bitter. "He's...not thinking straight."

"Why aren't I good enough for him?" The star girl said aloud blinking back tears.

Oh the poor thing. Peter thought sadly. She only wants things to be the way they should.

"Maybe if I was more like her..." The star girl said wistfully. "I could be...if I tried...how hard could it be?"

"Please don't." Peter begged. "One Susan is more than enough."

She let out a light giggle. "You tell good jokes."

"Who's joking?" Peter said in a very serious voice.

"Okay then...so what do I do?" She asked. She sat up straight, folded her hands, and set them in her lap, looking eagerly up to the king for advice.

"You actually want me...to tell you what to do?" Peter asked unsure if he should give anyone advice in this state of mind.

"Yes please." She said in a clear polite tone.

"Well...I think..." What did he think? Was he even sure of what he was saying? "That you should just...stay the way you are...because you're good enough for any king..." Okay now he was blushing. "...just the way you are..."

"Really?" She asked happily.

"Sure." Peter said. "You're pretty, smart, nice to others..." Oh no, he wasn't starting to like her himself was he? Just when things couldn't get any worse. He was the high king, he had to set the example.

"It's awful cold." The star girl commented. Some example, letting your company freeze to death was...

"Oh.." Peter took off his robe and gave it to her. "Try that."

She put it on over her shoulders. "Thanks." She smiled at him.

Peter got up and headed for the back door of the house. "Goodnight." He said quickly.

"Goodnight." The star girl sighed. She rested on the blanket a little longer looking up at the stars she didn't know. The stars she was never meant to know. It was a world that was not hers. But she wondered if she was starting to wish it were. She pulled the high king's robe more nightly around her as her eyes drifted towards the half moon that hung to the left of the very brightest stars.

At the crack of dawn, Edmund awoke, grabbed a bagel and ran out the door. It was time to get a start on using the bulldozer that was set to arrive any minute now!

Suddenly there was a loud roaring outside Susan's window. Someone was bulldozing down the trees that stood nearby the back of the house. Who was that? It looked a lot like... "Edmund!" Susan screamed from the window.

"Hey Su!" Edmund waved to her happily. "Want a ride?"

"Edmund, turn off of that noisy thing before someone calls the police!" She shouted at him.

"Yeah I got a great deal on the lease!" Edmund called back clearly not hearing what she was trying to tell him.

"Not the lease!" Susan shouted. "Police!"

"Paul who?" Edmund called back. "I can't hear you."

"Turn the thing off!"

"I can't hear you, I'm going to turn it off." Edmund called back.

"Ugh!" Susan groaned as she slammed the window shut. The sun was early up and she already wanted to kill him. Couldn't he let her get some sleep? She didn't want Caspian to see her with circles around her eyes. Didn't Edmund have any idea how much cover up she was going to have to use if she didn't get a least one more hour of sleep?

"Well that was discourteous." Edmund said as he looked at the window Susan had just shut. "She could've at least said hello." He shook his head and started up the bulldozer again. "Some people just don't know how they come off to others."


	6. Chapter 6

Lunchtime rolled around and Edmund finally heeded the neighbors' calls of, "Stop that racket!"

"How old is that kid?"

"I'm going to sue!"

"I'm trying to sleep!"

"I'm telling your parents!"

"Mommy, why is that boy tearing down trees?" Etc... And turned off the bulldozer.

Up in her room, Susan had been holding two pillows against her ears. Suddenly the roaring stopped. She sighed and buried herself under the covers. It didn't matter that it was noon. She didn't want to get up. She just wanted to stay snuggled in her warm bed forever. She didn't want to have to wake up the family she was slowly but surely losing touch with. Or that prince and his soon to be bride. It was too much to bear. If only she'd gotten off to Jane's sooner.

Edmund strolled into the kitchen as calmly as though he'd spent the morning at a spa. Lucy was sitting at the table looking really sad.

"Oh poor little Lu." Edmund said as he noticed her drooping face. "Here, have a cookie." he reached into the cookie jar, pulled one out and tossed it to Lucy.

Lucy shook her head, but she took the cookie anyway. Edmund seemed to forget that she wasn't a toddler who could be pacified by baked goods. But she still felt that she could go for a snack. She picked it up and nibbled at it.

"Why so down?" Edmund asked as he spread their mother's home made jam over two pieces of bread.

"Everything's going wrong." Lucy told him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Our family." Lucy sighed. "Peter wont talk to Susan, Susan wont talk to Peter, Caspian and Peter aren't on the best of terms, Caspian still likes Susan. Susan still likes Caspian...Peter doesn't want to see her fall apart again...but he doesn't actually care anymore...even thought he kind of does..." She took a deep breath and looked up at Edmund. "Do I need to go on?"

"Oh, is that all?" Edmund looked relived. He could fix this.

"Ed!" Lucy frowned at him.

"Lu!" Edmund put his hands on his hips and mimicked her facial expression. Then he laughed. "I can fix this."

"You can?"

Edmund looked proud. "I have a plan!"

Lucy slapped her forehead. "This is not good." She didn't even want to think about what he had in mind.

"Eustace!" Edmund called to his cousin. "Can you get everyone into the living room in about twenty minutes?"

Eustace walked into the room holding a long wooden plank and nodded.

"Okay, Lucy..." Edmund told her. "go into the living room and wait."

Lucy sighed and was about to go when she turned back, walked over to the counter, grabbed the cookie jar and walked off with it. She was going to need something to get her though the day.

"Susan!" Eustace opened her bedroom door.

"Go far away!" Susan demanded.

Eustace walked into the room and clapped his hands. "Come on, cousin. Wakey wakey."

"I'll wakey, wakey you!" Susan threatened as she dived deeper under the covers.

"That doesn't even make sense." Eustace said.

"Good!" Susan groaned. "Go away!" it was bad enough that Edmund was always barging into her room but now Eustace too! Wait until her parents got home. She was going to have a lot to tattle about.

Eustace sighed. "You leave me no choice." He walked out the room.

Ah, Much better. Thought Susan as the door closed behind her annoying cousin. Suddenly an avalanche of water landed on her head soaking through and through. Eustace stood above her bed holding a bucket.

"You. Are. Dead!" She told him. Then remembering how tired she was, she added. "When I decide to get up." Even cold water wasn't enough to make her face Caspian again.

Eustace then grabbed her feet and tried to pull her off. She grabbed onto the bed-bars and held on like a pit bull. No matter how hard he pulled, she wouldn't get up.

Downstairs Lucy sat on the couch with the cookie jar in her lap. The star girl reached in and took one out. "So what are we doing?"

"I have no idea." Lucy shrugged her shoulder. Then looking into the jar she frowned at it. "Hey. Edmund ate all the ones with chocolate filling in the middle!"

Caspian and Peter sat on two chairs side by side (With one empty chair between them) both looking rather irritated.

Finally an angry scream of, "Put me down!" Echoed through the house as Eustace raced down the stairs carrying Susan over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Then he put her down in the chair between her brother and Caspian.

Susan wanted to scream long and loud. She was in her pajamas soaking wet sitting right next to Caspian, at quarter passed noon, with no make-up on and her hair wild and uncombed. This was the worst moment of her life.

The Star girl of course looked perfect as always. Her long golden hair pulled back into a tight French braid and a I-don't-know-what's-going-on-but-I'll-be-cheerful-anyway sort of smile on her flawless skinned face.

Suddenly, Eustace pulled out a megaphone. "Presenting...Doctor Ed!" He boomed so loudly into the thing that everyone covered their ears to avoid permanent damage.

Edmund emerged from a closet dressed in English-professor type clothes that were way too big on him and a tobacco pipe was dangling from his lips.

"What the?" Susan gasped.

"Where did you get those clothes?" Peter demanded. "They look like the ones Professor Kirke sent to good will."

"I brought them." Edmund shrugged. "Turns out the good will people are very good willed when you give them cash."

"Okay?" The star girl said in a confused voice.

"What's this all about, King Edmund?" Caspian wanted to know.

Edmund gave them a big smile. "I'm the family psychiatrist."

"Oh no." Lucy shoved another cookie in her mouth. This was even worse than she'd thought it was going to be.

"I'm not in your family...So I'll be leaving." Caspian tried to get up but Eustace pushed him back down.

"This is issue resolution." Edmund said calmly.

"Isn't that dad's pipe?" Susan's eyes narrowed into angry slits.

Edmund nodded and then said, "But that's not what we're all here about."

"Can't I at least get dressed?" Susan pleaded. She didn't want Caspian to think that she would ever willingly spend the day in her night-clothes.

"No." Edmund told her. "We don't have time for that."

Eustace walked into the kitchen and returned with a tin of popcorn.

Lucy reached over the couch and into the tin to pull out a handful for herself, Eustace smacked her hand. "Get your own mooch!"

"Okay," Edmund rubbed his hands together. "We are going to start with anger management exercises."

"I'll give you anger management." Susan hissed glaring at her brother.

"That's it Su!" Edmund smiled at her proudly. "Let it all out."

Susan let out a huff and folded her arms across her chest. Caspian rolled his eyes. Peter let out a yawn. Eustace shoveled about half the tin of popcorn into his mouth while Lucy shot him a dirty look.

Edmund reached into the nearby closet and pulled out a long stick with padding attached to it. "This is a whacking stick. You can whack with out causing real pain thus getting out all your extra anger."

"Oh! Oh!" Eustace cried in an overly excited voice. "I wanna try!"

Edmund handed him the stick. Eustace clocked Edmund on the head with the stick.

"Ow!" Edmund said loudly, as he glared at his cousin. "That hurt." then he looked down at his whacking stick. "Well that's a waste of time..."

"Not really, I feel much better!" Eustace remarked.

"Good, can we go now?" Peter begged.

"No." Edmund insisted. "We are going to get in touch with our feelings."

"Can we at least speed it up a bit?" Caspian asked.

"Alright, um...Doctor Ed feels that Susan and Caspian need closure so they have to spend the day together talking and resolving all issues in a local park. And Peter needs to chill." Edmund said quickly. "now lets all hug and cry."

"Oh, someone's going to cry." Peter threatened him.

Edmund started hugging Lucy who then pushed him off saying, "I can't breathe Ed!"

"Oh Lucy!" Edmund gasped. "You're crying!"

"It's from lack of air." Lucy explained.

"Well, I think everything's been covered. We've resolved issues, there was a hug and a cry so my job is done."

"We can't let Susan and Caspian go off together alone!" Peter protested. "Not after what happened last time they were alone."

"Sure we can." Edmund gave Caspian a pat on the back. "Good relationships are all about trust. And we trust' King Caspian."

Peter frowned at him. "Trust me." Edmund mouthed. Peter slumped down in his seat. This had better be worth it.

"I'm not going anywhere until I change." Susan insisted.

"King Edmund..." The star girl said softly. "With all due respect I don't think I feel comfortable with my future husbands seeing that..."

"That what?" Susan's eyes darkened with anger.

"Don't use your words." Eustace offered her the whacking stick. "Use the stick. It's more amusing for me to watch."

"No!" Edmund cried. "no whacking. We can't whack after the hugging and crying stage! It's just not done."

Susan rolled her eyes. "I'm going upstairs to change."

"Me too." Caspian said.

"Caspian!" The star girl protested.

"It's doesn't mean anything." He told her. "It's just for closure."

"Didn't you get enough of that yesterday?" The star girl asked in a cold bitter voice that didn't sound like her at all.

"That's wasn't closure." Caspian said. "I-I messed up...I wasn't thinking."

"Well if you mess up again..." The star girl said trying to hold back tears. "I think we'll have to rethink our wedding plans."

"Oooooo!" Eustace said with his mouth full. Lucy managed to grab a quick handful of popcorn while Eustace was distracted.

"Look...there's nothing to rethink." Caspian assured her. "Everything is fine between us."

"Then let's keep it that way." She added as she got up and stormed out of the room.

Later after Susan and Caspian had left for the park, Edmund handed Peter and the star girl binoculars. "It's part of the spy-with-a-buddy deal."

"Huh?" Peter and the star girl said at the same time.

Edmund let out a chuckle. "I know you guys are going to spy so I'm giving you the useful tools."

"What about all that trust stuff you were shoving down our throats?" Peter asked.

"You believed that nonsense?" Edmund laughed. "It was a bunch of crud I made up to get the family out of the sulky rut it's been in."

"I knew you weren't a real doctor." The star girl muttered.

"We don't even know what park they're in." Peter pointed out.

"Then it'll be like a scavenger hunt." Edmund said. "Now, I've got about a pound of marble I have to pick up from the hardware store." He grabbed Lucy's hand. "Come on Lu. You can help carry it."

"But..." Lucy protested.

"At this rate you are going to be doing my laundry for the next five years." Peter warned Edmund.

"Okay, then gimme back the binoculars." Edmund wiggled his fingers.

Peter hesitated. He really needed them for spying but he couldn't just let poor Lucy be dragged off against her will again. "Ed..." He started.

"Just kidding." Edmund told him. "Keep them. You can take Lucy with you."

"Lucy's horrible at spying." Peter blurted out.

"Hey!" Lucy said.

"Yeah she really is." Edmund agreed. Then he shrugged and left out the back door. "Have fun!"

Peter shook his head. "I worry about him..."

"I'm going to my room." Lucy said as she raced up the stairs.

The star girl looked very sad. "I wish Caspian would look at me the way he looks at your sister." She told him.

"Doesn't he?" Peter asked.

She shook her head. "He doesn't. I thought he cared about me. Am I seriously going to waste my time spying on him when he clearly doesn't even want me?"

"Uh...yeah?" Peter said in a confused voice.

The star girl let out a sigh. "Go on your own if you want. But if they want to be together there's nothing you or I can do about it."

"I know." Peter told her. "I just can't bear to see her fall apart again when he leaves. She's going to forget that he's not staying...and...what about...you?" his expression softened. "You're in love with him."

"Love isn't one sided." The star girl said. "I can't love him if he loves her."

"He doesn't know what he's giving up." He said sadly. the star girl was a wonderful and sweet young woman. She would've made a great Narnian Queen.

"Yes he does." The star girl insisted. "That's why it hurts so much...he thinks she's worth the loss."


	7. Chapter 7

Susan smiled shyly at Caspian as they walked though the park's pathways. They'd come to talk out their issues but at that moment neither of them felt like talking. They just felt like strolling side by side passed all the trees with little pink flowers in full bloom.

A sudden light breeze blew one of the flowers off the biggest tree. It landed on Caspian's shoulder. He fully intended to brush it off. Then he had a better idea. He removed it carefully with his fingers and placed it in Susan's hair.

"It looks nice." He said, breaking the silence.

"Thank you." Susan answered softly.

He sighed deeply. "What did King Edmund say we need to talk about?"

"Our issues?" Susan shrugged. "Or something like that? I wasn't really listening. I still had water in my ears from the bucket Eustace dumped over my head this morning."

Caspian nodded. "Okay then...you start."

Susan shook her head. she didn't know how to. What was she going to say? "Please don't marry princess perfect"?

"Okay then..." Caspian said. "This is going to be harder than I thought."

"Tell me about it." Susan agreed.

"Well I guess there is one thing you should know." Caspian looked very uncomfortable. "I wasn't going to tell you but..."

"Tell me what?" Susan asked as she fiddled with her hair weaving the pink flower deeper into it so it wouldn't fall off.

"Back in Narnia...before I found out that...that...you were never coming back..." Caspian said very slowly. "I was...going to..."

"Going to what?" Susan wanted to know.

He swallowed and then finished. "I was going to ask you to marry me."

You could've knocked Susan over with a feather. She'd never been so surprised in all her life. "You-you...were?" Her voice came out as a squeak. She cleared her throat. "I mean, you were?"

Caspian didn't look at her. He looked at the path straight ahead. "I was worried you'd say no. I was going to ask at the coronation but I got nervous and changed my mind...so I was going to as just before you left because I'd just assumed if you said yes we could get married when you came back but... that didn't work out..."

If he cared that much about me, why did he want to marry someone else now? Susan thought. It's not a law in Narnia that the king has to get married. Peter never did. Neither did Edmund. (They'd come close once or twice but that's another story...)

"Back when I thought I had some chance with you..." Caspian went on. "I promised a very of my subjects that I wouldn't leave them with out a queen. It wasn't the wisest promise I'd ever made because after you left, I had to find a wife. Quite a few had hopes about my possible marriage to this one very unfortunate looking daughter of a duke." He paused for a moment remembering the unpleasant-appearing girl. "She squinted all the time and had the worst freckles...and that wasn't the worst of it. She spat whenever she talked. And when she wasn't squinting she was always batting her eyes. It drove me insane."

"She sounds awful." Susan agreed.

"Your sister pitied her." Caspian said for no reason.

Of course she did. That was the way Lucy was. "Let me guess, she called her 'poor girl'?" Susan said.

"You sure know your family." Caspian noted.

She had known them. Now she was knowing them less and less. She was falling away from them. And she wouldn't grab their hands of help. But she wasn't going to admit that to Caspian so she didn't' respond. Rather she said, "How did you meet..."

"My Star girl?" He spoke with warmth in his voice that she was very envious of.

"Yes." Susan said trying but failing not to let her teeth grin as she spoke.

"On my voyage to save the lost lords." Caspian explained. "Her father was a retired star. My star girl was the one who told us the food that was available to us was not the cause of the sleeping spell of three of the lords. That we could eat." The expression on his face turned distant. He seemed far away as though speaking in a dream. "She was so beautiful...and I wanted to see her again..."

"She is pretty." Susan forced herself to say.

"Edmund thought she was a witch at first." He went on. "but I knew. I knew she wasn't."

"She's too delicate to be a witch." Susan told him. "She could never fling an iron bar at a lion." She recalled the story Professor Kirke had told them. Then thinking of Aslan she felt bitter. She didn't want to think about Narnia any more. But there seemed no escape.

"I very nearly promised I'd come back for her but I almost broke that promise." He sounded a little choked up.

Was it because he didn't want another besides me? Susan wondered. Or was it simply that he didn't like her enough?

"I wanted to see Aslan's country for myself." He explained. "I was headstrong and didn't like to think that a mouse could gain an honor that I couldn't have."

So it wasn't about her at all. It was about that darn lion. "What happened?"

"Aslan talked to me. One of the things he told me was not to break my promise. He told me that she was eagerly waiting for me. That she missed me. Oh, and Lucy reminded me of my promise as well. I've always taken her counsel to heart. She's wise beyond her years."

So Lucy had a part in it too! She knew about the happy couple and didn't even tell her! It wasn't fair. Part of her felt that she was getting a little bit of closure after all. But another part insisted that these were not things she wanted to hear about.

"I went back for her and we sailed home." He finished. "And that's how we met."

Susan looked straight ahead not sure of what to say now. There didn't seem much left to ask about. She knew all she needed to. Well almost all she needed to. The bluntness of the question she planned to ask next made her want to blush. It was a fairly stupid question but she had to know. "Do you love her?"

"Yes." He said softly, cracking his knuckles as he spoke. "I do."

"Are you glad things didn't work out between us?"

"No, I'm not" He looked at the sun peering at them through the taller trees and making the light as pink as the flowers above them. "But this is the way it turned out."

"Yeah it is." Susan swallowed a lump forming in her throat.

Caspian reached into a bag he had with him and pulled something out of it. It was Susan's horn. "I think you should have this back."

"I told you to hang on to it." Susan said

He nodded. "I did. I've held on to it for too long. I don't think I was ever meant to call you again."

She took the horn from him and rubbed it between her fingers. It felt smooth and cool just like when she'd first held it after it was given to her by Father Christmas. He'd promised that no matter where she was, help would come. All she had to do was blow it. It had helped the Narnians but hurt her. She wasn't glad she'd gone back to Narnia after all. They went on walking quietly now. Neither had anything else to say.

Meanwhile, Edmund and Eustace struggled to carry a pound of marble into the kitchen.

Peter saw them and sighed. "What in the world are you going to use that marble for?"

Edmund grinned. "Oh, you'll see."

Suddenly there was a loud scream from the front door. "Help! I'm being attacked by a meerkat!" It was Lucy.

"There aren't any meerkats in England." Peter crinkled his forehead. This must be some kind of joke but it wasn't very funny.

"I sent for one from the jungle." Edmund said. "I thought it could help me dig. But then I changed my mind and got the super shovel 5000...by the lion, I must have forgotten to cancel the order!"

"Wait, you mean Lucy's really being attacked by a wild jungle animal?"

"In all likelihood...yeah..." Edmund said. "But it's just a little one."

Peter raced out off the living room. "I'm coming Lu! Hang on." Moments later, Peter came back into the kitchen holding the meerkat by the scruff of its neck. Lucy followed him in with her hands on her hips. She did not look happy.

"Ohhhhh! Look at the little guy!" Cooed Eustace. "He's so cute!"

Edmund smiled at the meerkat. "Oh, he is cute." He took him from Peter. The Meerkat seemed to like Edmund. Rather than try to attack him he sat on his shoulder like a trained monkey.

"He kinda looks like Peter." Eustace decided after staring at the furry animal for a moment.

"He does not!" Peter insisted. He looked nothing like a meerkat!

"He does!" Edmund agreed with Eustace. "Let's call him Peter junior."

"Let's not!" Peter said. "And we are not keeping him."

The Meerkat let out a sound that was somewhere between a hiss and a snarl. Edmund reached over and gave him a pat on the head. "Don't worry Peter Junior, Daddy wont let mean uncle Peter get rid of you." He glared at his brother. "You're hurting his feelings!"

"Oh I give up." Peter threw his hands in air and left the room. Let Dad come home and deal with it. It was beyond him. Maybe he shouldn't have let the star girl talk him out of spending the day spying. Then he'd have something to do while he waited.

"That thing attacked me." Lucy pointed angrily to Peter Junior.

"Oh he didn't mean it." Eustace insisted. "He likes you."

"Yeah." Edmund agreed. "Try giving him a little pat."

Lucy reached out and the meerkat snapped it's teeth at her. Edmund pulled him away, held him up so they were nose to nose and gave him a shake. "Pretend you like her or I'll lock you in a cage all night out side in the cold and you wont get to sleep in my room."

The meerkat let out a sort of grunt and leaned over and licked Lucy's hand.

"Good Peter junior." Eustace gave the meerkat a cookie bit.

Hours later shortly after sun set, Susan and Caspian returned. Susan had walked in with a pink flower in one hand and her horn in the other. They both looked tired and neither of them were willing to talk to anyone. Peter and the star girl tried to find out how their day and gone but then given up. After a dinner that would've been quiet if not for the meerkat that sat in the middle of the table slapping the hands of anyone who went for seconds.

Susan didn't know where the disease-carrying creature that Edmund called "Peter junior" had come from nor did she care. She didn't want seconds anyway. she just wanted to go to bed.

It was another sleepless night for Peter because now Edmund had a pal who also dug in his sleep. They also snored in tune with each other as if they were sing a song. This was insane. If he didn't get some sleep soon he'd be driven mad. Or maybe he was already there. Maybe he could sleep in the living room. At least it would be far away from Peter Junior.

He grabbed his pillow and ran into the living room. He tossed his pillow on the couch and then jumped on to it.

"Ow!" Cried a voice. Someone was on the couch already and he'd squashed them. Peter reached over and turned on a light. Crushed under his butt was his poor little sister, Lucy.

"Peter, get off!" She gasped struggling to wiggle out from under him.

"Sorry!" He jumped up right away. "What were you doing on the couch?"

"I can't sleep in my room." Lucy explained. "Caspian's in there."

"Why is Caspian in there?" Peter asked, Rubbing his sleepy eyes. "He's sharing with Eustace."

"No, now the star girl is sharing with Eustace." Lucy explained.

"Why isn't she in our parents room?" Peter yawned. It was too late to still be up.

"Because Uncle Harold and Aunt Alberta are in there." Lucy said. "They came to pick up Eustace and take him home tomorrow."

When had they arrived? Peter rubbed his eyes again. Maybe he'd fallen asleep somehow and was dreaming.

"They showed up an hour ago." Lucy said letting out a yawn.

"Where was I?" Peter asked.

"In your bedroom. You probably missed them because of Edmund and Peter Junior's snoring." Lucy sighed. "I think you should invest in ear plugs."

"Okay then, Sweetie." Peter walked off. "Sorry."

Lucy mumbled something along the lines of "It's okay." as she fell back asleep.

Great, now where was he going to sleep? In his sleepy state he decided on the lou. He could sleep in the tub. At least it would be better than the floor. He walked in and pulled back the shower curtain. He could sleep there either. Susan was sleeping there.

Suddenly, her eyes shot open and she glared at him. "By the lion's mane! Can't I have a little privacy?" She shrieked at him as she hurled a pillow at his head.

"It's not my fault Su." Peter defended himself. "how was I to know you were in there? Why aren't you in your room?"

"Harold and Alberta got into a fight and now Alberta's in my room." Susan snapped the shower curtain back in place.

Now what? There was no where else. It didn't matter. At this point he was so tired he'd sleep on the floor. He fell asleep outside the bathroom door on the carpet.

A little while later, Susan decided to get up for a glass of water. She walked out of the lou and tripped over her brother.

"Ow!" She whimpered as she fell flat on her face.

"By the lion Su!" Peter complained. "Watch where you're going."

"Well how was I to know you were lying in front of the door like a human doormat?" Susan demanded with her hands on her hips.

Peter nodded. "Yeah, that pretty much sums up our relationship."

"Oh grow up!" Susan huffed. "Go sleep some place else."

He didn't bother to point out that there was no place else. Lucy, awaked by the noise of Susan's fall offered to let him share the couch with her. "If I'd known you planned to sleep on the floor I would've offered earlier."

"Thanks Lu." Peter said gratefully.

Minutes later they were sleeping head to toe on the couch. At first Peter had to keep moving to avoid getting Lucy's toes up his nose. But then he finally found a comfortable position and drifted off to sleep. Shortly before morning, he woke up with no feeling in his left lower leg and foot. Lucy was hugging it in her sleep. She was probably dreaming about cuddling Reepicheep. Oh Aslan, would he get no sleep tonight?!


	8. Chapter 8

It was a bright sunny morning. It was the sort of day you'd assume would put people in a good mood. But no amount of good weather was going to put the Pevensie house hold in a good mood.

Everyone (except Edmund and his meerkat) woke up in a bad mood. Harold and Alberta still weren't talking to each other and rushed Eustace out the door right after breakfast.

"Sorry you wont get to see our project finished." Edmund sighed as Eustace gave Peter Junior a pat goodbye.

"I know!" He sounded very disappointed. "but I'll come back and see it as soon as I can."

"Where am I going to get a worker to replace you?" Edmund wondered aloud.

"Whoa!" Suddenly there was a big thud as Lucy fell down the stairs while carrying Eustace's fourteen suitcases.

"Problem solved." Edmund grinned at his sister. He helped her to her feet and put a hard hat on her head.

"Who are you people again?" Alberta pointed to Caspian and the star girl.

"Okay goodbye." Peter grumped as he rushed his aunt to the door. He didn't feel like making up excuses. And even if he had wanted to, he was too tired to think of any.

"Goodbye." Susan called in a bored voice as she sat in a rocking chair flipping through a magazine. Her ankle really hurt. She'd walked on it for too long at the park yesterday. It was getting stronger but she'd over done it.

"Next time pack light!" Lucy called as Eustace got in the car.

Caspian and the Star girl didn't say anything. They just waved.

"Come on, Lu." Edmund grabbed her wrist and dragged her out the back door.

He was surprised that Peter didn't even try to stop him. He quickly looked up at his brother. His eyes were closed. He seemed to have fallen asleep while standing up. A light snoring sound came from him.

"Peter?" Lucy said.

"Mmm, be right there mum." He mumbled as started sleepwalking up the stairs.

And as no one else was going to stop him, Edmund handed his sister a shovel. "Let's get digging!"

Susan got up and limped up to her room. Leaving Caspian and his star girl alone.

Caspian looked up at the grandfather clock in the living room. He couldn't read it. He could only read Narnian and Talmarine time which reminded him that this was not his home. He couldn't stay in the Pevensies world. There was nothing for him here. He needed to find a way back. But how?

"We ought to be trying to find a way back into Narnia." He said aloud.

"Caspian, we don't even know where to look." The star girl said in a tone of voice that suggested she might not even want to go back. "Might as well stay here as anywhere else."

"This isn't our world." Caspian argued. "We don't belong here."

"Maybe Aslan wants us to be here." The star girl said as she poured herself a cup of tea from the kettle Eustace had set on the stove before he left. "Want some tea?"

"Nonsense." Caspian said getting more annoyed with her by the second. "This is all a dreadful mistake."

"Oh, but we're so happy here." The star girl protested as she sipped her tea calmly.

"No we are not." What by the lion, was she talking about? Nothing good had come out coming to this world. He'd cheated on her. Didn't she remember that? Didn't she remember how home sick she was?

"Aren't we?" She asked, her eyes widening as she spoke.

"I thought you were home sick." Caspian reminded her.

"I am." She shrugged.

"Then why don't you want to go back?" Caspian asked.

The star girl sighed. "I'll miss everyone dreadfully. Lucy's a dear, Edmund's very amusing, and Pe..." She caught herself remembering who she was talking to "...the others are very lovely."

But Caspian figured it out anyway. "You like him!" He gasped.

"I don't..." Her face went red as she spoke and she couldn't look Caspian in the eye. "I barely know him."

"But you want to." Caspian said shaking his head. "I don't believe this."

"You're one to talk." The star girl huffed.

"This is getting to be too much." Caspian said. "We've got to get back."

"Well when you find a way back, let me know." The star girl said shortly. "Until then...I'll be out in the back yard!" She walked out of the kitchen door slamming it behind her.

An hour later, Peter woke up in a closet. "By the Lion! How did I get here?" he said to himself.

Meanwhile, Edmund and Lucy were digging a ditch deep enough for an elephant to fit in.

"Ed!" Lucy gasped for air. "Why are we doing this again?"

"Dirt is fun." Edmund laughed tossing a bit of the said dirt at his sister.

"Tell what we're doing..or..or...I'll...hit you with my shovel." Lucy threatened in a not-so-treating voice.

"You hit like a girl." Edmund laughed. "But if you must know..." He leaned over and whispered his plans in her ear.

Lucy's face lit up. "Ed, that's wonderful! Do you really think we could pull that off?"

"We'll see." Edmund grinned. "But it'll mean a lot of digging, and remember, don't tell anyone it's a surprise."

"Oh what fun it will be!" Lucy said with a happy smile on her face. "It'll be just like old times. So that's what you wanted the marble for!" Lucy beginning digging with more zeal now.

Susan was sitting on her bed with her horn in her lap. She didn't want it but here it was in her possession. It was like a curse. She didn't want to be a part of Narnia anymore and yet it seemed to haunt her like the horn's call.

"I wonder if Edmund would burry it for me if I asked." She sighed to herself.

Knock knock. Someone was at the door.

"Queen Susan?" It was the star girl.

She didn't want to talk to her. Maybe if she didn't answer, the star girl would go away.

"Can I come in?" Her voice seemed pleading and Susan almost felt bad for her.

"Aright."

The door creaked open and the star girl walked in slowly. "I have a problem...I think."

She hadn't expected this. "What sort of problem?"

"I think I might...have feelings for someone other than Caspian. But he's in this world, and I know I'll have to go back to Narnia sooner or later. And it's not that I don't care for Caspian anymore...I do..."

Susan smiled at her. "Do you really think I'm the person to help you with this?"

"Yes." The star girl said eagerly. "I need you to tell me how you got over Caspian so I can get over the gentleman I like."

"But that's just it." Susan shook her head sadly. "I never got over it. I should have tried harder. I shouldn't have...I don't know. And I don't know what to tell you."

"Oh."

"So this guy..." Susan asked. "Do I know him?"

The star girl nodded. "Yes you do."

"Hmm." Susan tried to think of every guy she knew that the star girl might like. She couldn't think of anyone. "What's he look like?"

The star girl turned very red in the face and shook her head.

"Aw, you really do like him." Susan let out a little laugh. "Poor thing. Why didn't you talk to Lucy about it though? You two are awful close."

"Yes, but she's never gone through something like this before." The star girl pointed out. "She wouldn't understand."

"No, she wouldn't." Susan agreed. "But what are you going to do?"

"The only thing I can do." The star girl told her. "Try to get over him, find a way back to Narnia and get married."

"You're still going to marry Caspian?" Susan asked in a surprised voice.

"What else am I going to do?" She said in the sort of practical voice Susan often used. "Swim back to my father?"

"I'm sure he'd give you a boat." Susan laughed.

"I can't go back there." The star girl said. "My father would be so disappointed in me. He did so want to see me marry the Narnian king." Then she tossed her head and looked quite prim. "Besides if you think I'm going to leave him free so some freckled squinty-eyed girl could win his heart? Pshaw! Losing him to you is one thing, losing him to some nobody is quite another."

Susan couldn't help but feel surprised. This was a side of the star girl she'd never seen before. A side that was surprisingly like herself. They had things in common after all.

Meanwhile Peter walked down the stairs rubbing his eyes with one hand and trying to remove a roll of tape from being stuck to his shirt. Finally, he got it off, it fell on the stairs with thud.

Caspian barely looked up from a book he was flipping though.

Peter glanced down at the book. It was a phone book. "Looking for someone?"

"Well, if this has a way to contact everyone, maybe Aslan's in here too and he can help me and my future wife get back to Narnia before things get worse." Caspian explained.

Peter held back a chuckle. "First of all, Aslan's not in there and he wouldn't be under the letter Y if he was."

Caspian slammed the book shut.

"Second," Peter went on. "What are you talking about 'before things get worse'?"

"I mean before my star girl and I break up for good." Caspian sighed.

"Trouble in paradise?" Edmund asked as he walked into the room, covered head to toe in dirt. Lucy followed looking the same way. "Is time for Dr Ed to work his magic again?"

"No!" Lucy, Peter, And Caspian shouted at the same time.

Edmund shrugged and crammed a sandwich into his mouth. "Come on, Lu."

"Leave Lucy alone." Peter told him.

"No, it's okay." Lucy said. "I want to help."

"What?" Gasped Peter. "You want to help him dig?"

"Yup." Lucy said with a grin. "Come on, Ed." She grabbed her brother's and they raced out the door.

"Things are getting really weird." Peter muttered to himself.

Caspian let out a sigh. "I don't know what I'm going to do! It's not like Aslan's going to walk in through the front door."

Suddenly, the door flew open. And a lion walked in. "Hello, Kings of Narnia." He said in a low growlish-but-laughing sort of voice. The door slammed shut behind him.

Both kings got down on their knees.

"Welcome, Aslan." Peter said, his voice shaking a little.


	9. Chapter 9

Aslan's lips turned up in a friendly smile as he approached them. "King Caspian, tell me, why are you here in this world?" He asked him with an eyebrow raised.

"My future wife...slipped though the tree...I went after her." Caspian explained feeling rather foolish. "May we go home, Aslan?"

Aslan's golden mane shook as he nodded. "You are go to home very soon. But where is Ramandu's daughter?"

"Perhaps she is upstairs, Aslan." Caspian said, his eyes moving slowly away from the great cat to the stair case.

Aslan now turned his attention to Peter. "High King, You have done well."

"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

"You have believed even when your sister did not." Aslan explained. "But you should not give up on her yet. She has fallen, she needs someone to help her back up. And I will not always be around to do so."

"But how can I help her?" Peter asked. "When I can't understand her?"

Aslan's great round eyes looked grave. "You will understand sooner than you think. But be sure not to follow her example. Rather, try to get her to follow yours."

Peter wasn't sure what Aslan meant. But he nodded respectfully.

"Worry not this time son of Adam." Aslan told him. "This time I will help."

The back door opened and in walked Edmund and Lucy. They were wearing hard hats with torches on them and carrying shovels.

Edmund felt a bit afraid when he first saw Aslan. He knew right away who it was. But as impressive as the Lion was in Narnia, he was even more impressive in our world. He was so big and golden that everything else seemed to have lost its colors. Edmund shook a little as he bowed awkwardly.

Lucy flung her shovel aside. She had no fear of the Lion. Or if she did, she couldn't feel it then. She could feel only her love for him. She raced towards her dear Aslan so quickly that her hat fell from her head. She threw her arms around the Lion and hugged him tightly with tears in her eyes.

"Oh Aslan!" She cried happily. She didn't know when she had last felt so much joy. "You are in our world too! And we are meeting again. Dear Aslan!" She showered his golden face with kisses.

"Dear heart." Aslan wrapped his wide golden-furred paws around her and let out a lion's sort of purr. "Dear Queen Lucy."

At that moment, Susan appeared on the stairs. She heard her sister's cries and wondered what all the fuss was about. "Lucy...are you alrig..." She stopped mid-sentence. A large lion was in the room and it had Lucy in its terrible paws. The others were just standing there gaping at the big creature. Susan let out a cry of alarm. "Somebody do something!" She shrieked in terror. "A wild animal's escaped from the zoo! Help! Call the police! Call mum! Call father! Call..." She ran about the room in a terrible tizzy.

Aslan let out a sigh, unwrapped his paws from Lucy's waist and walked slowly towards the Queen Susan. "Susan!" He said.

All Susan heard was a growl. She only screamed louder thinking the creature was after her now. She was about to turn and run when Aslan stuck her across the face with his heavy (But velveted) left paw. it didn't hurt much. He had not used any claw, but the blow of slap stung a little.

Tears came to Susan's eyes. "Aslan..." She said. Recognizing him at last. "Aslan...I'm so sorry..."

"And I am sorry I had to strike you, daughter of Eve." Aslan said calmly. "But you needed it."

"Yes I did." Susan said slowly as if she was in a dream.

In fact, the others were not sure if Susan didn't really think she was dreaming. She certainly wasn't acting the way she normally did. Her voice was soft and she seemed dazed. Edmund wondered if she even knew where she was.

"That trip you took didn't do you much good." Aslan shook his head causing his mane to shake too.

Susan's eyes were wide and she looked very young and helpless. Like a small child looking for her parents in a store. She seemed even younger than Lucy at the moment. "Aslan." She repeated still in a dazed voice.

The star girl came down the stairs a moment later, her eyes widened but she didn't scream. She'd only seen Aslan once before.

When she was six years old, Aslan had come to their island to his own table. Ramandu had told her it was a great honor to have Aslan the great lion for a visitor. She remembered that Ramandu and Aslan had been speaking alone in hushed tones. She's always wondered what it had been about. The conversation she'd never heard had gone something like this,

"Ramandu, I have something to tell you." Aslan had said in a low almost-purring voice.

"What is it great Aslan?" He had asked, straitening a tangle from his long white beard.

"It is about your daughter." Aslan said. "She is suitable for a Narnian queen."

"But how could she ever become queen of Narnia?" Ramandu wondered aloud. "She is not Narnian, though she has shinned on Narnia once or twice."

"She could always marry a Narnian king." Aslan reminded him.

Ramandu let out a laugh. "Would a Narnian King travel as far as this? None did that I know of. Not King Frank. Nor any of his sons. Nor High King Peter, nor King Edmund..."

Aslan smiled at the star. "Friend, have you heard of the seven missing lords?"

"No sire." Ramandu had said rather talked aback not sure what the great lion was getting at.

"They are lost, and someone will need to find them." Aslan's right eyebrow rose as he spoke.

Ramandu smiled back.

"And..." Aslan went on. "Your daughter is about the right age for the future king I have in mind. Though he's only a little prince now."

Before he left them, Aslan licked the little star girl's forehead.

She liked him. "Will we meet again?" The little star girl had asked.

"We will." Aslan assured her as he walked off into the sea.

She looked sadly after the lion. "I'm going to miss him father. I liked him."

"He's not a tame lion dear." Ramandu said kindly to his daughter.

She nodded and blinked back tears.

Now here she stood in front of the great lion once more. She could feel a tremble of excitement rushing though her whole body as she swept him her finest curtsy.

"Good star," Aslan addressed her. "How did you come to be in this world?"

"I tripped." She confessed. "Through the tree."

"I shall not leave it open again." Aslan told them. "When you return, you will find it closed. Forever. No Narnian shall ever travel though it again. You and Caspian shall be the last."

Susan seemed to be less dazed now, like one waking from a dream. "Hello Aslan." She said as though she noticed him for the first time. She didn't seem to remember the slap.

"Hello queen of Narnia." Aslan said kindly before turning to Edmund. "We must talk of those plans of yours."

"Don't you approve, Aslan?" Edmund asked. Oh wouldn't it be horrible if Aslan didn't approve! all that work for nothing!

"I would like to speak with you out back if you don't mind." Aslan told him. He looked at Lucy. "The youngest queen may come too if that is her wish."

Lucy's face beamed with delight. "Oh thank you Aslan!"

The lion and the two younger Pevensies slipped out of the kitchen door. Peter, Caspian, Susan, and The star girl sat down on the couch and waited for their return. There didn't seem much point in doing anything else.

The Lion walked smoothly narrowly, but surely missing all the pot holes Edmund had dug. "Son of Adam, your plans are good but I must give you some advise on it."

"Please do." Edmund said.

"First thing is get all this mess fixed. Your mother is going to flip out if she sees this." Aslan laughed.

"It's going to be a lot of work." Edmund pointed out. There was no way they could fill in all the holes.

Out of one of the holes came Edmund's Meerkat.

"There you are, Peter Junior!" Edmund said happily. He'd thought his pet might have run away.

Peter junior gave Aslan a funny look and then slowly walked up to him, sniffing the air. Aslan seemed to like the meerkat. He bowed his golden head and touched his nose to Peter junior's face. At one the meerkat seemed to grow a little bit bigger and he stood up and his eyes looked more alert.

"I say!" Exclaimed Edmund.

"Hullo." Said Peter junior.

"You can talk!" Edmund cheered. "The darling meerkat can talk!"

Lucy smiled at the meerkat. "I trust you will not attack me now?"

"No your highness." Peter junior gave a little bow. "I didn't know any better, until Aslan woke me up a moment ago."

"Little Friend," Aslan addressed the Meerkat. "Could you fill in all of the holes made by King Edmund?"

"Yes." The meerkat set off at once.

Aslan then went on with his advice. "The next thing is when the task is complete you really ought to save your big plans until the next school holiday."

"Why?" Edmund asked.

Aslan gave him a knowing look. "You will have a visitor, Son of Adam. Eustace will come but he will not come alone."

Lucy reached out and stroked Aslan's fur. She didn't know how much time she had left with him and wanted to make the most of it.

"King Edmund, Queen Lucy, I've a warning to give you." Aslan said gravely. "A warning that may or may not come to be. But you should be aware that it might happen."

"What is it?" Lucy asked him as she wove her fingers though his mane.

"Your sister Susan has decided once that she was not a friend of Narnia. She is mending. But she may not mend all the way. She may once again declare herself no friend of Narnia." Aslan said in a grave, low, even hurt voice. "She may even wish to not join you in your plans."

"Dear Aslan." Lucy said softly. "Is there no hope?"

"There is hope dear one, She may some day mend for good. And be a true friend of Narnia once again." Aslan assured them. "Now, children, go fetch the others from the house. It is time for Caspian and his bride to go back into their own world."

"Please Aslan..." Lucy pleaded. "Couldn't just Edmund go? So I could stay here with you a bit longer?"

Aslan nodded and Lucy stroked his fur some more.

"Aslan..." Lucy started. She had a question for him.

"Ask your question, Dear heart." He purred.

Lucy sighed. "How is it no one on our street saw you come to our door?"

"Do you remember when you saw me across the gorge and the others did not?" He asked with one of his dark gold eyebrows raised up.

"Oh." Lucy understood now.

Edmund led Susan, Caspian, Peter, and the star girl into the back yard.

"I say, Ed!" Peter exclaimed. "That mess you made is all cleaned up!"

"Thank you." a little voice from beside his feet said.

Peter looked down and was surprised to see Edmund's meerkat talking like a Narnian animal.

"Hullo." He said to the meerkat.

The meerkat politely said hullo back.

As soon as they were in sight, Aslan let out a roar. A large tree shot up where one of Edmund's holes used to be. The tree opened. "And so you will leave the same way you came." Aslan told Caspian and the star girl. "It is time to say your goodbyes."

Susan took a deep breath. "Goodbye, Caspian." She said giving him a quick hug.

"Good bye Susan." he gave her a small half smile that seemed a little forced.

"Take good care of yourself." Susan said lamely.

"I will."

Then Susan turned to the star girl. She pulled The pink flower Caspian had given her out of her pocket and handed it to the star girl. "You ought to have it."

The star girl gave Susan a hug goodbye. "I will miss you." She said.

"Have a good wedding." Susan told her.

"I will." She smiled down at the flower. "Thank you for everything. And for listening to me about...well what we talked about."

"What are friends for?" Susan said.

"I'm glad we're friends." The star girl said.

"Me too."

Edmund asked for his list of power tools back from Caspian. "You won't need it in Narnia. But I might need it here."

Caspian handed him the list. "Goodbye King Edmund. It is to bad we wont be meeting again. I do hope you plans..whatever they are...go well...as long as they don't hurt anyone that is..."

Lucy tearfully hugged everyone goodbye. The star girl, Caspian, and Aslan...basically everyone.

"We too must part Edmund." Peter junior said. "I am a talking animal now, I must go to my own kind."

"It was nice knowing you." Edmund said in slightly teary voice. "You were the best pet meerkat a boy could ever want."

"Thank you." The meerkat said. "And you were a wonderful owner."

Lucy sat on Aslan's back while the rest of the goodbyes went on. She leaned forward and rubbed her face into his mane. "I will miss you most of all." She whispered.

"And I you." Aslan whispered back.

Soon the only goodbye left was for Peter and the Star girl. It was awkward to say the least.

"Well goodbye." Peter said shortly not knowing what else to say.

"I wish we had more time together." The star girl said suddenly.

Peter smiled at her. "It would've never worked out anyway."

"Why?" The star girl asked.

"I am 1300 years older than you." He reminded her gently. Then he turned and looked at Caspian.

Caspian nodded. He understood. Like sister, like brother.

Peter turned around and kissed the star girl goodbye on the lips.

"I'm older and I still don't understand." Lucy said in a confused voice as she slid off of Aslan's back.

Edmund laughed. "I'm still older and I still don't want to understand."

Then, Peter Junior, Caspian, and Star girl got on Aslan's back. Aslan turned back to give one last glance to Lucy before racing off into the tree. The tree closed up behind him.

The four Pevensies stood alone in their back yard. They might have thought they'd dreamed the whole thing if not for the large paw print in the mud in front of them.


	10. Chapter 10

The Pevensies thought they heard someone at the front door.

"Children?" Helen Pevensie's voice called. "Where are you?"

"Mum and dad!" Lucy cried happily racing into the house to greet them at the door. Edmund followed her.

"He was here wasn't he?" Susan asked Peter.

"Who, Caspian?"

"No." Susan said. "Aslan. The great lion. He was here, in our backyard?"

"Yes of course he was." Peter answered wondering what she was getting at.

"How on earth did he fit?" Susan wondered aloud. Her practical side was kicking in again. "Are you sure we didn't just imagine he was here?"

Peter shook his head. "Don't be silly Su. We didn't imagine he was here. He simply was here. End of story."

"Oh!" Susan gasped suddenly. "Where'd his paw print go?"

Peter looked back at the spot where the great lion's paw had left it's mark. It was gone now. Just like the lion who'd left it there.

"We should go in, Mum might have groceries she needs help with." Susan went into the house.

Peter was about to go in with her when he looked back and saw the large tree Aslan had called up sink back into the ground. It sunk slowly, bit by bit. First it was just a shorter tree, then it was just branches, then just leaves then it was gone. Edmund's hole also closed up under it.

So by the time he got in the house, the other three were already with their parents. Lucy was hugging her mother happily. Susan was taking the groceries out of father's arms while he gave her a kiss on the forehead. Edmund was standing behind them.

"Ah, there you are, Peter." Helen said in a pleased voice.

"Hi Mum." He said giving her a hug. "Welcome home.

"Now," Mr. Pevensie laughed. "Why are my two youngest darlings covered in dirt?" He eyed Lucy and Edmund.

"Um, no reason." Edmund said nervously.

"Okay then..." His father sighed. "We'll talk about all the angry calls I got from the neighbors tomorrow. Right now I just want to go upstairs and take a hot bath."

"Lucy, have you been playing with a cat?" Her mother asked. There were little bits of golden fur stuck to the mud on Lucy's clothes.

"Yes." Lucy said honestly.

"Alright, I trust it wasn't a wild one?" Helen asked kindly.

"We'll he's not tame..." a strange little knowing smile started to creep on to Lucy's face as she spoke. "...but he is good."

"Peter, next time make sure your sister doesn't play with strange cats she doesn't know." Mrs. Pevensie didn't like the idea of her daughter playing with strange animals they didn't know.

Lucy shook her head. Aslan was no strange cat. He was Aslan. And she knew him very well.

Late that night, Susan found she couldn't sleep. The bright moonlight seemed to slice through her bedroom curtains no matter how tightly she drew them. She glanced out her window and saw Peter outside. He was laying down on a blanket looking up at the stars.

She crept out of the house and went over to where her brother was. "Ahem."

He looked startled at first. His thoughts had been far away. "Oh, it's you."

"Yeah." Susan sat down next to him on the blanket. She didn't ask who he was thinking about. She already knew.

"Was it this hard for you?" Peter asked with his eyes half closed.

"Yes." Susan admitted. "It was."

"I'm sorry if I never gave you enough credit." he said. "I didn't realize how hard it was."

"It's okay." She told him. "She really liked you, you know...a lot."

Peter opened his eyes a little more. "How do you know?"

"She told me." Susan explained. "Of course I didn't know she was talking about you at first...but I figured it out..."

Peter sat up and looked at Susan. "I don't hate you by the way."

"I never thought you did." Susan told him.

"Even when I gave up on you?" Peter asked.

Susan shrugged. "We're family. We flip out on each other sometimes. It happens."

"So what do we do now?" He wondered.

"I have no idea." Susan admitted. "I think all we can do is just go on with our lives." She reached for something she had brought along with her. She handed it to Peter. "I think you should have this."

It was a small white object. Peter knew what it was right away. "Father Christmas gave the horn to you not to me."

"He also gave the sword to you, not to Caspian." Susan pointed out. "I think it's our right to give it to whomever we want."

"but why?" He asked as he glanced down at the horn with confusion.

"I don't want it." Susan said simply. "And I thought you might."

"Why don't you want it?"

She sighed. "I don't know, I just don't want it anymore."

"Well then...I'll keep it." Peter gave in. "But if you ever want it back..."

"I wont." Susan said firmly. "You keep it."

Peter looked back at the horn again. "Okay, I'll keep it." then he seemed to be lost in thought. "I remember the first time I ever heard this thing...when you nearly got eaten by wolves."

"Were you scared?" Susan asked. She'd wondered about it for a long time but it had never accrued to her to ask him until now.

"Scared?" He recalled. "I was terrified. I'd never been so afraid in my life. I thought I was going to be sick."

"But you never hesitated..."

"No one hurts my little sister." He smiled at her.

"Aren't you cold out here?" Susan asked.

"Yeah, but I don't mind."

"Me either."

"I'm a little tired."

"Yeah..." Susan yawned. "Me too."

"Long day..."

"Very long..." She agreed. They fell asleep out there. When they woke up the next morning, they were surprised to see a blanket over them.

At Breakfast, Helen shook her head at them. "Honestly, It wouldn't kill you two to think a little. It's a wonder you didn't catch your death out there. Thankfully I spotted you too shivering and got a blanket from the hallway closet."

"Thanks mum." Peter said as he crammed a piece of toast into his mouth.

Susan took a sip of orange juice. "Yeah, thanks mum."

Edmund raced through the kitchen with a shovel. "Hi Mum, bye mum."

"Edmund get back here!" His mother called.

Meanwhile, in Narnia, Caspian and the star girl were surprised to find that no time at all had passed by since they left. Trumpkin was still in the duel with the other dwarf. Apparently he'd managed to find a sword after all.

He wasn't surprised to see Caspian or the star girl because they'd been there before but Aslan seemed to appear out of no where.

"Aslan!" Trumpkinn exclaimed. "When did you arrive?"

"Just now." Aslan let out a little chuckle as he spoke. "Now I think it's time for a wedding."

"Now?" Caspian and the Star girl gasped at the same time. "Right now?"

"Yes." Aslan said. "I will do the ceremony myself...But first..." He roared and everyone they would have wanted to be present at their wedding was there. All the good dwarfs and giants. Reepicheep and all the other mice. Caspian's tutor and Caspian's nurse. And even Ramandu.

"Father!" The star girl called out happily. "I'm so happy to see you." She ran to give him a hug.

"Good daughter!" He exclaimed happily.

Aslan roared once more and Caspian and The star girl's clothes turned into proper Narnian bride and groom wear. Also tables of fine food appeared.

The ceremony went on well and happily. There was only one interruption. during Aslan's speech about the joys and sorrows of royal marriages, Reepicheep and Peter junior got into a fight.

Peter Junior was in the processes of shoving crab cakes from one of the tables into his mouth. When Reepicheep poked him lightly with the hilt of his sword.

"What was that for?" The meerkat demanded.

"For eating all the crab cakes." Reepicheep was clearly upset. "You didn't save any for the rest of us!"

The meerkat picked up a sword and Reepicheep drew his own.

Aslan was saying, "I now pronoun you..."

"That'll teach you to eat the last crab cake!" Reepicheep and Peter Junior were sword fighting very loudly and the guests were already talking out bets on who would win.

Aslan let out a growl and glared at Reepicheep and Peter Junior. "He started it!" They both said at the same time pointing to one another.

Aslan shook his mane and then went back to pronouncing the king and queen husband and wife.

"I think Aslan needs a vacation." Ramandu said to Trumpkin.

"Tell me about it." Trumpkin agreed.

After that the newly weds decided to take a vacation themselves.

"Good subjects." Caspian announced. "Your queen and I will be going to Archenland for a few months. Trumpkin shall be left in charge."

"Yes!" Trumpkin pumped his fist in the air.

Everyone glared at him.

"I'm just really happy for the King and Queen." He insisted.

If you want to know, yes, Peter Junior and Reepicheep finished their duel shortly after the wedding. Reepicheep won. Afterwards though they became good friends and could often be seen walking about side by side.

Back in England the four Pevensies thought they could just hear the faintest sounds of cheering Narnians.

"Something must be happening over there." Edmund said. "I can sense Narnian joy."

"I'll bet the king and queen got married!" Lucy cheered happily. Then she looked over at Peter and Susan who looked a little uncomfortable. "Sorry."

"It's okay Lu." Peter said. "Things happen."

"Yeah it's alright." Susan agreed. "And look on the bright side. All four of us still have each other." She sounded very much like Queen Susan the gentle at that moment and was instantly smushed by the tight hugs of her three siblings.

"Welcome back!" Edmund cried happily. She was the old Su again! They only hoped it would last.


	11. Chapter 11

"I can't believe we have to go back to school." Edmund complained as he packed his suitcase. It was the end of the holidays and time for school to start up again. "Kings don't need to learn to write essays. I can write proclamations, that's just as good."

"Why don't you just tell that to you teacher, Ed?" Susan teased as she rolled a pair of nylons and packed them.

"Ha ha very funny." Edmund grumped. Then he looked into Susan's suitcase. "Gosh, Su, how many nylons did you pack?"

"Shut up." Susan frowned at him.

"We should ask Mum and Dad to let us go to a mixed school like Eustace so we could all be together." Lucy said sadly.

Susan's expression looked like Lucy had just suggested they all go to school in the nude. "Ew!" She muttered under her breath.

Peter walked in carrying a very large carpet bag. "Who's is this?" He asked.

"Oh, that's mine." Susan said causally, taking it from him.

"What's in it?"

"Make up."

Edmund opened the bag and looked in. "Are you joining the circus?"

Susan grunted and snatched the bag away from her younger brother.

Peter started packing his school books. "They're going to kill us with school work this year."

"I don't care much about this year." Susan sighed. "So long as I'm popular and don't get left out of the good parties."

"Since when do you care about parties?" Peter asked, genuinely interested. Susan had been a bit of a loner at school since they'd come back from Narnia the first time. He wondered what triggered the change.

"No one will like me if I don't go anywhere." Susan explained.

"No one will like you if you look like you fell face first in a bowl of melted candy." Edmund corrected, eyeing the make-up bag again.

"Whatever." Susan fluffed her hair and zipped the final bag shut. "See you in the car." She blew them air kisses and left the room.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with her?"

"It's not the Caspian Blues again is it?" Edmund asked.

Peter shook his head. "I don't know. She's been acting really weird lately. She used to be very reclusive, now she's..."

"Utterly repulsive?" Edmund offered.

Lucy grabbed her favorite stuffed animal and put in her bag. Aslan forbid if Susan saw her pack that. She would've said she was being childish.

"Something has to be done about her." Peter agreed.

"Don't worry." Edmund said smugly, as he pulled three envelopes out of his jacket pocket.

"What are those?" Peter asked.

"Weren't you wondering what Edmund was up to with the socks and the dirt and the power tools all this time?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah..."

"Tell him Ed!" Lucy jumped up and down with excitement.

"I'm going to throw an old fashion Narnian ball as soon as the next holidays start!" Edmund cried happily. "And we're all invited and Eustace is coming too!"

"Huh?' Peter's forehead crinkled. That sounded nice, but what in the world did it have to do with power tools and marble?

"He built an exact replica of our old Cair Paravel ball room!" Lucy blurted out. "And he got clothes that look almost Narnian from a costume shop!"

"Lucy!" Edmund glared at her. That was going to be a surprise.

"Sorry." Lucy pouted. "I just couldn't keep it in anymore."

"It's okay." Edmund gave her an understanding smile.

"You built what now?" Peter blinked in confusion.

"I dug the cave I built it in and everything." Edmund said proudly.

"But why did you steal everyone's socks?" Peter wanted to know.

"Mine got covered in dirt and bug poo from a cave in or two." Edmund shrugged as though it was no big deal.

"You are one of a kind, Ed." Peter laughed.

"Susan, will love it." Lucy added happily. "She always loved going to balls." She beamed at Edmund. "Can we give her an invite now? Can we? Can we?"

"Go on, Lu." Edmund said. "You can go down stairs and give it to her if you want."

Lucy ran down the stairs happily with the invitation. Susan was in the kitchen on the phone.

"Susan!" Lucy waved the envelope in the air. "Look!"

"Hold on a minute, Jane." Susan sighed into the phone. "Sister's trying to tell me something" She turned to Lucy and barked, "What?"

Lucy was still too excited to be phased by her sister's angry way of speaking to her. "Look, we're going to a party next holidays!"

Susan's expression changed. "Why didn't you say so, dear?" She looked at the paper in Lucy's hand with more interest now. "Who's party?"

"Edmund's." Lucy was fairly bubbling over with excitement now. Wait until Susan heard this. "We're going to have a..." she lowered her voice. "...Narnian style ball!"

Susan's face fell and she turned up her nose like she'd smelled a bad odor. "Oh, is that it?"

Lucy's own face fell now. "But Edmund dug a..."

Susan shook her head. She went back to her phone conversation. "Really?" She said into the phone. "No, I don't have any plans for next holidays what do you have in mind?"

Lucy bit her lip and tried not to cry as she walked slowly back up the stairs. Susan didn't care. How could she not care?

"Lucy, what's wrong?" Peter asked when he saw her face.

Lucy gulped down a lump in her throat. "Susan's not coming to the ball."

"What?" Edmund called angrily from another room. He ran into the hall way. "She's not? Why?"

Lucy shrugged her shoulders sadly. "I don't know."

"I'm sorry she's not going." Peter said kindly.

"Oh she's going." Edmund snapped. "I did not spend all this time digging and getting sued by our neighbors for any guest not to show." He stormed down the stairs.

"Susan!" he barked as she chatted on the phone. She completely ignored him and went on talking.

Finally, Edmund grabbed the phone out of her hand and slammed it down "Susan!"

"Edmund!" She cried. "Why'd you do that?"

"Why'd you tell Lucy you weren't going to my ball?" Edmund demanded crossly. "I worked my butt off planning this thing."

"It's s stupid idea Ed." Susan tossed her head in a cocky way then she smiled happily and added, "And I promised Jane and Laura I'd spend next holidays with them. Their elder sisters get invited to so many places that they just can't go to all the events and they send Jane and Laura in their places...and they said...get this...that I can come too if I want."

"But this is really important to me Su." Edmund insisted.

"Sorry, Ed." Susan shrugged. "Maybe next time."

Edmund huffed and stormed back up the stair muttering curses under his breath. "She's not coming." He told his siblings.

Later, their parents dropped them off at the subway station and kissed them goodbye.

"Edmund, could you be a dear and get me a magazine from the stands?" Susan asked him.

"Get it yourself." Edmund muttered as he walked away.

"What's his problem?" Susan asked Peter.

Peter shook his head, "Same as mine." he went after Edmund, "Hey Ed, wait up."

"Lucy?" Susan asked softly.

"I'm really disappointed in you." Lucy sighed as she ran off after her brothers.

Susan was left alone. Why were they being so mean to her? It was one little party. Why did it matter so much? She went to get the magazine herself.

"Phyllis?" A voice said.

"Oh my!" Susan gasped. It couldn't be! He looked so different!

"The doctor says I don't have to wear glasses anymore, isn't that great?" He beamed at her.

"Yeah..." Susan stammered still in shock. "That's...really...great."

The boy looked down at one of her bags. "Something fell." He pointed. He reached down and grabbed it. It was the invitation to Edmund's Ball. "A ball huh?"

"Yeah, but I'm not going." Susan told him.

"Why not?" The boy asked. "It sounds like fun."

"No it really doesn't." She snapped as she took the paper from him and shoved it back in her bag.

"What's Narnian mean anyway?" He asked indifferent to the annoyed look forming on her face. "Does it stand for something?"

It stands for leave me alone. Susan thought to herself. But all she said out loud was, "I gotta go. See you round." And she took off as fast as her legs would carry her.

Edmund, Peter, And Lucy didn't talk to her the whole subway ride. Even when it was time for Edmund and Peter to go to another station to get to their own school they were distant with her.

They tearfully hugged Lucy goodbye and told her how much they loved her.

All they said to Susan was a quick, "Bye."

"Peter, wait!" Susan called after her eldest brother. Surely he couldn't stay mad at her like the others. Surely he was more mature than that.

"I'm going to be late." He told her as he kept on walking away.

Maybe she could get Lucy to talk to her. "Lucy, Please talk to me?"

"Why don't you talk to one of you friends?" Lucy sulked. "You only talk to me when they're not around."

"That's not true." Susan said.

"Is so true." Lucy insisted trying not to cry.

"Are you still mad about me not going to Edmund's whatever-it-was?" Susan asked.

Lucy nodded.

"If I promise to go will you stop being mad at me?" Susan offered.

Lucy's face lit up. "Really? You'll go?"

"Yes." Susan agreed.

"Promise?" Lucy asked.

"Promise." But it was a promise that Susan did not intend to keep.


	12. Chapter 12

It was at last time for Edmund's ball. Peter, Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace had been looking forward to it for the whole term. It seemed like the day would never come.

Lucy was especially eager for it. Her teachers noticed that she wasn't paying enough attention in class and demanded to know the reason. She wouldn't tell them about the Narnian ball but she did slip up and mention something about going to an event with her brothers to a fellow student when the teachers were in ear shot. They phoned her parents and said that Lucy's excitement at going to a family party was ruining her grades. Of course the Pevensie Parents had no idea what they were talking about and just assumed the teachers had called the wrong student's parents by mistake.

But the when term did finally end and Lucy was disappointed when Susan told her she was spending the holidays with Jane and Laura.

"But you promised!" Lucy cried.

"I know, I'll come back home in time for it." Susan lied. "I'm just going to spend a little time with my friends first."

"Okay." Lucy had said, believing her.

Now they waited for Eustace at the train station. Just as Aslan had told them, he did not come alone. A bewildered eyed girl followed behind him as his cousins happily greeted him.

"This is Jill Pole." Eustace told them pointing to the girl.

"I'm Lucy." Lucy told her.

"Lucy..." Jill looked like she was thinking deeply. "Queen Lucy of Narnia?"

"Yes, But how do you know about Narnia?" Lucy asked.

"I was there." Jill explained. "I went there with Eustace."

Edmund let out a gasp and slapped Eustace on the arm. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Eustace rubbed his arm. "Ow." he pouted.

"Who are you?" Jill asked Peter and Edmund with a kind smile.

"Peter and Edmund." Eustace told her.

"The Kings?" Jill's eyes grew even wider. She whispered in Eustace's ear. "Do I have to bow or something?"

"No, I think you're alright." Eustace chuckled.

"We're having a Narnian Ball." Edmund told Jill. "You're more than welcome to come."

Jill's face lit up like a candle. "Wonderful! I can wear my Narnian dress!"

"You have a Narnian dress?" Lucy asked not with out a tad bit of envy in her voice. She missed her old clothes.

"I hid it in my dorm." Jill explained. "Eustace had fancy Narnian clothes too but he buried his somewhere."

Lucy could help but feel a little thrilled at the thought of seeing a real Narnian dress again. And it over rode her envy.

Jill began looking around them as if expecting to see someone behind them. "Is Queen Susan here too?"

"No." Peter said gravely.

"She wouldn't come." Edmund added in a bitter tone.

"She's coming." Lucy insisted. "She promised."

"Not that it means much these days." Peter muttered to himself.

"What was that?" Lucy asked.

"Nothing."

Unable to wait for Susan any longer, Edmund blind folded the others and led them through the back woods to the cave. He couldn't wait to see their faces when they saw it.

"What about Su?" Lucy asked feeling about in the dark wishing Edmund hadn't placed the cloth over her eyes.

"She'll find her way here on her own." Edmund said. "It's not that hard to find."

"If she comes." Peter muttered.

This time Lucy heard him. "She's coming. I told you."

One by one Edmund pulled the blind folds off of his guests and a series of delighted gasps followed.

It was their old ball room. High marble pillars and red lion paintings and tapestries hanging on the wall, glittering stones lined the corner fire place that was out of the way but kept everyone warm. There was a large and lovely smooth dance floor right in the middle of it all.

"Home." Peter gulped down a lump forming in his throat. The last time he'd seen it, it had been in ruins. The pillars torn almost to nothing and the paintings long gone. The floor scuffed up and rock-filled. Seeing it whole again even if it wasn't the real thing was like magic. He remembered all the old balls and the dances and princesses and nobles.

"I've gone back in time." Lucy giggled. It was so like her old home that she half was waiting for Fauns and dryads to walk in and ask her to dance. She remembered her old dancing partners and Susan's too. She remembered their first feast after Aslan got rid of the white witch. She remembered watching Aslan slip when he thought no one was looking.

Jill smiled, reaching out to touch one of the pillars. "It's lovely."

Lucy looked at Jill's dress. So very Narnian. Maybe they had gone back in time after all. Maybe Jill wasn't some friend of Eustace's but a dryad, lightly tripping about the dance floor honored to be their.

The ball started there was dancing and fine music (thanks to a radio smuggled from their parents). They laughed and giggled happily. Edmund even pulled out a bottle of wine.

"Ed!" Peter gasped in shock. "We're not going to drink."

"We used to drink in Cair Paravel all the time." Edmund reminded him.

"but we were older..." Peter couldn't help but think what his parents would say if they smelled alcohol on their children's breaths when they returned home.

"Live a little." Edmund laughed pouring some into a glass and handing to Lucy.

"Wait..." Peter glanced at his sister. "She's drinking?" Lucy smiled up at him as she took a sip. "Fine, I'll have some too." He gave in.

"Pole will have some." Eustace said.

"I've never had any wine before..." Jill said doubtfully.

"Try it." Edmund offered her a glass.

Soon they were all dancing again. Laughing and giggling even more so than before.

Later they tired out and took seats on the cushions Edmund had put in the corner (Just like the ones at Cair paravel)

Lucy looked to the left. There was a wall there. It was the only thing that kept her from thinking she really was back at Cair Paravel. There should have been a door there. It would lead to different stair cases and then to her bed room. "Susan didn't come." she said sadly.

"Her loss." Edmund shrugged grabbing the wine bottle. "Who wants more?"

Peter pulled it out of his brother's hands. "I think we've all had enough." He said giving everyone a stern look.

"Actually I..." Eustace started.

Peter glared at him.

"...Have had more than enough."

"Tell us about Narnia." Peter said to Jill. "What's it like now?"

"It's a wonderful place." Jill told him. "Trumpkin is an old dear. So funny how he can't hear us and thinks we talk softly. Poor fellow. He doesn't realize he's going deaf."

"Is he so old?" Peter was surprised.

"Yes, he's very old."

"Wow." Edmund couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Poor Trumpkin." Lucy sighed. "I remember when he first yelled at us."

"There was a terribly awful witch." Jill recalled. "She could turn herself into a snake."

Edmund gulped. He still had nightmares about the white witch some times. He didn't like the thought of any witches after that.

"She was perfectly dreadful." Eustace agreed. "Tried to tell us Aslan wasn't real, that the sun wasn't real...I hated that woman."

"And I can't believe she killed the queen." Jill added.

Peter's face fell. "What?"

"They say she was beautiful too." Jill went on. "That she had real star blood in her."

"She's gone." Peter said softly to himself, he couldn't believe it.

"Jill..." Eustace said in warning tone. "Talk about something else."

Jill looked at Peter who seemed to be holding back tears. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"What about Caspian?" Peter wanted to know.

"Oh he's quite well." Eustace said. "He was taken to Aslan's country. He was so old...and he turned young again. It was so strange."

"Did the star girl grow young too?" Lucy asked. "Or..."

Eustace shook his head. "She wasn't with him. She was long gone by then. She died even before her own son reached her."

"Oh." they all fell silent.

"What Kinda Lame Fairytale is this?" Edmund said suddenly in a sulky voice. "The prince-no, the king-gets the girl but she dies and then he dies but doesn't die for real because of Aslan and another other king is in another world sad becuase the girl died. And one Queen doesn't show up...this stinks!"

"He must know what he's doing." Lucy said calmly.

And they all knew that Lucy must be right. They all felt sure they would understand one day, it just wouldn't be today.


End file.
